Obama to tell his 'only in America' story

To some ears, his name sounds foreign. His father was not an American citizen. Many of his relatives live overseas. And a portion of his own childhood was spent abroad.

Every presidential candidate tries to demonstrate patriotism, sometimes in ostentatious ways, from headlining 4th of July parades to leading crowds in the Pledge of Allegiance. But Barack Obama's complex biography seems to heighten the burden.

While his multiracial, multicontinent background has provided a compelling narrative for his political rise, it also makes him a more complicated character and potentially more vulnerable to attack. There is also the not-so-small matter that Obama is running against John McCain, a war hero who spent more than 20 years in the Navy, roughly a quarter of that time in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp.

All this helps explain why Obama is expected to ratchet up the telling of his own American story this week as Independence Day approaches, embarking on an effort that, in a sense, is an attempt to redefine the very idea of patriotism.

The message will be that love of country is not defined only by such traditional measures as serving in the military or tracing one's ancestors to the Mayflower. Patriotism, he and his supporters will say, can be reflected in living the American dream, which in Obama's case means rising as the Hawaiian-born son of a Kenyan father and Kansan mother to professional and political prominence.

Veteran Democratic strategist Bill Carrick said attacks on a candidate as unpatriotic can be terribly damaging, and that it's crucial for Obama to inoculate himself. "It makes it very important for Sen. Obama to go out there and say who he is and why he loves the country and make his own affirmative case," Carrick said.

Recognizing that, Obama's initiative in coming weeks will take many forms. He already has begun airing television ads in 18 states about his love for America. And he recently wrote an essay in Time magazine recalling how his mother read him the first few lines of the Declaration of Independence.

In whatever venues he finds, Obama will stress that he has benefited immeasurably from the country's opportunities and that makes his love for it genuine.

But the reaffirmation of his patriotism comes after he has suffered wounds on the topic, including some inflicted himself and by those supporting him.

Obama, for example, was criticized during the primary season for not wearing U.S. flag lapel pins on his suit coats (he now routinely does). Past statements by Obama's longtime Chicago pastor that could be viewed as anti-American have generated controversy and continue to circulate on the Internet, as does a statement by his wife, Michelle, that she had not been truly proud of her country as an adult before her husband's electoral success.

In the coming days, Obama is expected to visit some traditionally red states as he seeks to broaden the electoral battleground, including a stop planned Monday in Independence, Mo. Over the weekend, his campaign also announced a trip this summer to Europe and the Middle East, where Obama's popularity could be on display and his standing as a diplomatic figure boosted.

Obama's advisers say there will be a heavier emphasis on the national service embedded in his family tree and on his experience as a constitutional law professor.

"It's more about the ongoing narrative that he has told throughout this campaign," said a senior adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It is an 'only in America' story."

One of Obama's goals during the 4th of July season is to define himself as fully as possible before his opponents do.

Democrats are painfully aware of the fate of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), their 2004 presidential nominee. Although the senator was a decorated Vietnam War veteran, his campaign was badly damaged by attack ads questioning his service record.

With no military service on his own resume, Obama instead often mentions his grandparents, a couple heavily involved in raising him in his hometown of Honolulu. Last January, Obama made a stop in El Dorado, Kan., where his grandfather grew up, to retell his family's story.

"It's the story of farmers and soldiers, city workers and single moms," Obama said at the time. "... It's a varied and unlikely journey, but one that's held together by the same simple dream. And that is why it's an American story."

As part of the patriotism theme, Obama also is expected to speak this summer near the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu, where his grandfather, a World War II veteran, is buried.

Obama's first general-election ad, a 60-second biography launched earlier this month, foreshadows the patriotism theme, with images from his life story accompanied by his own words about what being an American means to him.

Americans define patriotism in a variety of ways, so it may not always be simple for Obama to assert his own.

And unlike the 2004 attacks on Kerry, the fight over Obama's patriotism will not be limited to television commercials.

For much of his presidential bid, the Illinois senator has been subject to murky Internet attacks that incorrectly suggest he is a Muslim. A widely distributed photo also shows him failing to put his hand on his heart in front of a giant American flag, as other candidates standing next to him did and the national anthem played.

Concerned that some of that could taint his image, Obama's campaign recently launched a Web site designed to fight "rumors and smears."

While American flags have long served as backdrops for his campaign events, one started showing up on his lapel only relatively recently, and now he wears them routinely.

Many supporters, including veterans, he explained, had been handing him flag pins and asking him to start wearing them to show his patriotism.

mccormickj@tribune.com