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08/18/2008: "Obama's Plane Raises Ire"

Hysteria Hits the Roof Before Reason Can Compose Itself by Brian McNeece

Anyone over the age of seven is familiar with a court of law. When I was a kid, we watched Perry Mason deliver clean justice out of a mess of knotty claims against his clients. Numerous courtroom films and now Court TV have made us a sophisticated culture when it comes to the concepts of innocent until proven guilty through admissible evidence and the mounting of a convincing case.

Despite being a culture built on due process, those foundations are being flooded with the corrosive acid of hysterical emails boiling with hate. People I know, people who I otherwise consider to be rational--kind people--send me these emails. It worries me that so many people seem to be jumping to conclusions on the flimsiest of logical connections.

By now the majority of people who read this and who use email have received the message about how Obama is DISGRACEFUL because of what he did to his airplane. If you have received this email, you will remember that Obama had the gall to paint over the American flag that was on the tail of his plane. According to the email Obama is a clown who is ashamed of his country. If he gets elected, the message implies, our government will turn into a hideous bloated monster, followed by communism or worse!

Remember that this is because he painted over the American flag on the tail of an airplane that his campaign leased. The plane was leased from a company called North American airlines. (A more sympathetic viewer might call this choice of a lease a very patriotic decision.) Throughout the primaries, Obama’s campaign left North American’s paint job intact, including the trademarked flag logo on the tail. When Obama locked up the nomination, his team had the plane re-painted and the interior remodeled for the fall campaign. In fact, once the candidate put his name and symbols on the plane, he couldn't keep the flag--unless he painted a different version. So the new paint job used Obama’s red, white, blue campaign logo in place of North American’s.

The email also mentions that Obama, instead of the American flag, has his own image on the plane. It’s all about me, claims the email, implying that Obama is tainted by an oversupply of egocentrism. How dare he? Let’s see, he’s running for president of the United States. Yes, that’s pretty egocentric. He’s spending millions of dollars to put his name and face everywhere he thinks you and I might see it. Isn’t that what people do when they run for office?

To be fair, we ought to look at McCain and his plane too, shouldn’t we? That’s what it means to make a case and analyze an issue. What do you know, McCain doesn’t have a giant American flag on his campaign jet either. And how about that, he’s got his name writ large all over the thing.

After I read this angry and indignant email about Obama, I went to his website for the first time. You know what I saw there: Not one image of an American flag on his website. And McCain’s website? Guess what: not one American flag either.

Perhaps by now, American flags are waving on both websites. But think about it, does the lack or presence of an American flag on the candidates’ planes, websites, cards, or promotional materials have anything to do with their patriotism? I don’t think so. How can you judge a person by what they don’t have on their materials?

Neither of the candidates has a picture of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Thomas Jefferson on their airplanes. They don’t have an image of the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, or even a map of the United States! Just think of all the images of our great country that they don’t have on their airplanes—Betsy Ross sewing the flag, the “Don’t Tread on Me” snake flag, Paul Revere on his famous ride, George W. crossing the Delaware, the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

At least Obama is leasing a jet made by Boeing, an American manufacturer; McCain flies a French-built Airbus A320. I don’t make much of this, or else I’ll be considered a communist soon for driving a Toyota.

Other Obama incidents spawned equally condemning emails. When photos caught Obama onstage as the only candidate without his hand over his heart, folks were quick to conclude that he was un-American. They didn’t mention that it was during the National Anthem and not the Pledge of Allegiance, nor that it is customary just to sing the anthem without the hand over the heart.

When Obama said he was going to stop wearing his American flag lapel pin, the internet crackled with screaming of un-American! Shoot first, check the body later to see if it was the right target. Obama wanted to make the point that the symbol and the sentiment are two different things. He once again wears the flag lapel pin.

Since the indignant, anti-Obama email did get me to go to both candidates’ websites, I saw that both of them have provided curious minds with summaries and oftentimes detailed treatments of their positions on a whole array of issues. The media often overwhelms us with hyper-kinetic, fragmentary and often highly biased, exaggerated, or mocking snippets about each candidate and their views.

Go to their websites from time to time between now and November. Actually read and consider what they have to say. Certainly take into account their votes or prior occasions (although neither of them has been doing their job as U.S. senators since the campaign started two years ago.)

In a democracy, the people are the judges and the juries, so if you plan to vote, do your duty and take a look at the evidence instead of accepting unsubstantiated claims.