On MSNBC they're talking about Senator Obama's so-called "patriotism problem." (Trying not to freak out, here.) I'm listening to Chris Matthews tell me that "the little guy" likes America because there's God. Pat Buchanan saying you've either got patriotism or you don't. And Joe Scarborough defining patriotism as that feeling you get when you hear that awful Lee Greenwood song. Seriously. He seriously said that.
This election is going to be covered using the same old script. Democrats = effete, elitist, San Francisco liberals. Republicans = patriotic, middle American. The only way for Senator Obama to win, they'll say, is to act like a Republican.