How happy do you think Team Barry is that, thanks to Clark, the big soundbite from Obama’s latest peroration is going to be his tribute to McCain’s patriotism instead of his own? Here’s the clip, in which Clark isn’t named but is clearly enough the target. Today’s disquisition follows in the grand Obama tradition of dressing up what is, essentially, a “Checkers” speech designed to get him out of a jam politically as some meditation on the American character for the leg-tingling pleasure of media fanboys across the spectrum. I wonder if any part of this one will be repudiated at a later date when it becomes inconvenient.

Hotline has the full transcript; the part on service is down near the bottom, after the salute to dissidents and his slap at MoveOn.org for the “General Betray Us” smear, which, you’ll recall, His Holiness couldn’t be bothered to condemn in a senate resolution given that he was in the thick of a primary fight at the time. The takeaway: “I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign.” Except, of course, he already has. He acknowledges at one point in the speech that part of the reason people question his patriotism is due to his own “carelessness,” an oblique reference to his choice to stop wearing the stupid flag pin. What he doesn’t acknowledge is the reason he stopped wearing it — namely, to draw a distinction between “true” and “false” patriots as he defines them. He was happy to play patriot games (just like he was happy with his church) until he got to the general election and realized they may not be a winner for him, which is why that pin’s clearly visible on his lapel in the video below. Out: “New politics.” In: Machiavellian cunning!

The one other interesting line, near the very end, was spotted by DrewM Equality of opportunity, not equality of results: Consider that another general-election pander from candidate Obama on which President Obama might differ.

Link: sevenload.com