Posted by
Michael Goodell on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 12:10:17 PM
Last Sunday I was in San Francisco, watching my daughter run in the Nike Women’s Marathon. It was her first marathon, and she finished it in great style with a sprint to the finish line. My wife and I were thrilled to be along for the ride. It was great fun hopping in and out of cabs, fast-walking shortcuts, leap-frogging the route to be there to cheer her on.
Since the purpose of the race was to raise money to fight leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers, I exercised discretion as to when I would sneak a smoke. Somewhere around mile eight, ahead of the race, I took advantage of the down time. When I finished, I field-stripped the cigarette, as is my wont, and thinking myself a good citizen, I tossed the butt down a storm drain. A San Francisco police officer said, "Hey, don’t do that. It drains to the bay."
"Sorry," I replied. "I won’t do it again."
"You better not," he warned, resting his hand on his holster.
I said, "Don’t tase me, bro."
He said it wasn’t a Taser, it was a gun. I said that would probably be even worse, and we had a laugh. What a neat city San Francisco is, I thought, where you can joke with a cop about him shooting you. We started talking. He told me his father was a Spaniard, 90-years old, and grows grapes for local wineries. "My name is Guillermo," he said, pointing at his name, stitched on his uniform. "G. Amigo."
"Officer Friend, that’s great."
Then he rattled off a sentence in Spanish. When I said, "No comprendo," he came back with an amazing statement. "You Americans are so arrogant, you think you only need to know one language."
I said, "But you’re an American." He replied that he spoke five languages. "But you’re an American."
"I’m European, more international."
"But you’re an American, aren’t you?
He finally, grudgingly admitted that he was in fact an American citizen. He became one just before Vietnam. "Nice timing," I said, and the conversation went off in a different direction. But his original comment, "You Americans are so arrogant," ate at me for the rest of the day. I wasn’t asking him if he was a citizen, I was asking him if he was an American.
I realized this is why John McCain can’t get any traction in this race. This is why Barack Obama’s past doesn’t put people off. This is why his association with avowedly anti-American speakers and actors doesn’t hurt him. This is why his wife can get away with boasting that until recently, she had never been proud of her country. This is why our nation is so divided.
For too many Americans, the idea of identifying themselves as such is anathema. For too many Americans, the American is a fat, ignorant slob, bloviating about shopworn concepts such as individual freedom, American exceptionalism, and "land of the free, home of the brave ." For too many Americans, the very concept of America is yesterday’s news.
When Obama sneers at bitter Americans clinging to their guns and their religion, too many Americans think, "There but for the grace of God go I." When Obama runs away from America, he runs into the arms of enlightened, educated, intelligent, grown up citoyens du monde.
Officer Friend is a great guy, and by all appearances, a good cop. But he’s a lousy American, and no doubt, a proud Obama supporter.