More on A Citizen of the World

July 25, 2008

Guest Post by Ron Chusid

Steve M. has beaten me to commenting on one item I was thinking about writing on so I will keep this brief. As he mentioned, John McCain was critical of Barack Obama’s statement in his speech in Germany where he referred to himself as a citizen of the world. As Steve M. also pointed out, George Bush has used the phrase “citizen of the world” in a favorable context, and he is not alone in doing so. Even Ronald Reagan has done so.

While Steve has handled this issue well, there are two points I’d like to add. The implication in many of the attacks on Obama from the right over this is that being a citizen of the world means he is somehow not a loyal American. They tend to ignore the fact that Obama said, “I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.” I bet not many right wingers will repeat Obama’s statement of being “a proud citizen of the United states.” That won’t fit in well with the meme that he is really a Muslim terrorist and a Manchurian candidate.

While many liberal bloggers have defended Obama, I most enjoyed a defense of Obama on this point from a libertarian blogger. (Unfortunately he weakened his post by making a derogatory comment on John Kerry’s reference to a “global test” which was twisted to mean something quite different from what was intended.) David Weigle of Reason wrote:

He declared himself a citizen of the U.S. and the world, smart guys. Is John McCain not a citizen of the world? When his map reaches the Atlantic Ocean, does it turn white and read “Here There Be Dragons”?

Perhaps. My fear is that McCain’s map of the world is made up of lots of places marked “places to bomb.” That includes a huge arrow pointed at Iran.

(Cross posted from Liberal Values)

“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
–Thomas Paine

  • INOKIYAD

    It’s Not OK If You’re A Democrat.

    If Bush ever really tried to be “a citizen of the world”, he might have to live by the rules the world enforces. A trip to the Hague would then be in order.

  • Unfortunately this is too often taken to mean “my country should take over the world because my religion is the only one that can do good.” Sigh.

  • I hope someone asks McCain if the US should pull out of the UN. A lot of the die-hard Republicans think we should, and it shows clearly how over-the-top retarded they are. If McCain could be forced to piss them off by saying that being in the UN is a good thing, it would help to peel off some of his base.

  • When I heard the reference to being a “citizen of the world” it struck me that Obama was refering to those problems that affect the whole world such as terrorism. I don’t think that he meant anything more than Kennedy, Reagan or Bush – living on the planet has consequences including being exposed to such super-national movements as terrorism or Rock and Roll.

  • Oh, I wanted to say all these things. But nice to be in good company.

    This is it: You can’t just be a citizen of the world by proclaiming it — you have to earn it. A sojourn via the Hague would be an appropriate entry point for the Cain/McBushes and their ilk.

    Mr Obama, however, has demonstrated enough acceptable qualities to be admitted as a world citizen. The question now is whether he is not just too good for America.

  • I’d like to be a citizen of the world, but Global Immigration Services is so slow. So I guess I’m an Occupant of the world.

  • Racer X said: “I hope someone asks McCain if the US should pull out of the UN.”

    I think the answer is already yes. JSMcC*nt wants to create a union of democracies or some such (which already exists and is already corrupted because they let Egypt in) and work through that, rather than the U.N., to achieve world peace domination.

    I wonder if his crash and torture wounds in his shoulders allow him to flip his hand palm out pinky extended to touch the corner of his mouth?

    I think Ron makes a good point. But Rovian tactics basically involve taking comments out of context, changing their meaning and then attacking the changed meaning rather than what the speaker originally said. Don’t expect them to change, as JSMcC*nt is convinced that Obama is unfit to be President and thus must be defeated by any means possible. Since he will lose otherwise that means cheating.

  • Yeah, citizenship is a pain when you don’t have it. Of course, it’s an issue of parts and wholes. If there really was an official World Citizenship, then I guess that would mean holders of such a revered status would be free to go anywhere, live anywhere and work anywhere. Really sounds pretty cool.

    On the other hand, if you’ve only got a limited citizenship, like for example an American citizenship, of course you wouldn’t be free to just go, live and work wherever you chose. So, I guess there is a real issue here, paperwork and all.

    Since all the individual countries exist on the same planet, then being a citizen of one country would seem to imply automatic citizenship of the planet. The trouble is, when you step outside your own country you automatically step into someone else’s country.

    Funny old world..

  • Goldilocks said:

    Yeah, citizenship is a pain when you don’t have it. Of course, it’s an issue of parts and wholes. If there really was an official World Citizenship, then I guess that would mean holders of such a revered status would be free to go anywhere, live anywhere and work anywhere. Really sounds pretty cool.

    Reminds of one of Vonnegut’s ideas, I think a Kilgore Trout story, in which all the real estate of the world became privately owned and non-landowners had to float around with balloons. I forget the moral of the story but it was direly dour. 🙂

  • Somewhere in the caves of Mercury.. something I’ve forgotten. Gotta dig back in there.

    But wait, Dale, till they privatize air. How then shall we even fill our balloons?

  • The brilliant cartoonist Tom Toles covered this subject well today. His cartoon shows Bush and Cheney watching a very big-screen TV showing Obama speaking to cheering crowds in Berlin, Germany (not Berlin, Pennsylvania, where the McGoodHumor candidate recently ran some spiteful radio ads…). Cheney said to Bush: “He’s drying up our supply of enemies…” Tom Toles cartoons are available at Yahoo.com if you personalize a special subpage and request it.

  • Goldilocks said:
    Well shut my mouth.

    Somewhere in the caves of Mercury.. something I’ve forgotten. Gotta dig back in there.

    But wait, Dale, till they privatize air. How then shall we even fill our balloons?

    Sirens of Titan maybe?

    I guess we’ll have to depend on politicians for hot air for our balloons. 🙂

  • James K Sayre, @13,

    Tom Toles’ cartoons can also be accessed through his WashPo archive:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/tolestom/archive/
    and today’s already posted there.

    As for the Berlin ads… From NYT (describing McCain’s lousy week):
    The campaign’s choice of restaurant [Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage Haus] was consistent with the Republican National Committee’s decision to run anti-Obama advertisements in Berlin, N.H.; Berlin. Wis; and Berlin, Pa.

    The whole NYT article [“Hey, Obama: There’s Bratwurst in Ohio, Too (but No Cheering Masses)”, by Elisabeth Bumiller] was interesting. My favourite little barb: “[…]McCain said in typical, now-daily comments before the refrigerated case of shredded cheese in Bethlehem, Pa.”

    Must have been about the same time Obama was visiting Jerusalem, Israel. Once again the real thing, while all McCain could scramble up was a ghost copy, like the various “Berlins”. OTOH… It leaves Senator McGaffe with more napping time (elsewhere, Obama is quoted as saying he could fall asleep standing up, what with all the time zone changes).

    It sounds like Berlin, Germany, was the only Berlin spared the visitation from McCain.

  • Typical liberal….hates america and wants the world to know it….a vote for obama is a vote for socailism….USSA (united socialist states of america). A vote for Obama is a vote for “I hate America, and with i was Canadian”

  • “A citizen of the world”

    The Mississippi Delta is ground zero for racism in America. I grew up there, not five miles from a family acquaintance who was the most powerful racist in America for a generation (James O. Eastland). I can tell everyone firsthand of the advantages that we whites were given and how the blacks were ‘kept down’.

    But then I left and joined the Navy, saw the world. What an eye-opener! Come to find out, while cultures might be wildly different, people really ARE the same all over the world! It was then that I started seeing the hate- and fear-mongering of the racists of the Delta for what it was, and how it was often IDENTICAL to the same tactics that were used by tyrants throughout history to justify their actions.

    I also found that, regardless of the culture, the more conservative one’s leanings are, the more likely one is racist. This is not always the case, but I am speaking of likelihoods, probabilities. And I am right.

    Do not get me wrong. I am American, retired Navy, and would give my life for my country. I am also a citizen of the world, and I can now see that we are just as human, and often just as wrong, as any other free nation in the world.

    I do love irony. That’s why I am tickled to see that, barring election fraud or (God forbid!) assassination, the racists of my Delta youth might see Barack Obama as the next President of the United States of America.

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