“But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived — at great cost and great sacrifice — to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom — indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us — what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America’s shores — is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.”
For anyone who questions Barack Obama’s patriotism, or wants to see how to combine patriotism with globalism, read the peroration of his Berlin speech, quoted above.
America’s claim to leadership is not based on perfection, but on working towards universal aspirations, and on our status as the world’s first globally inclusive population.