Obama: Don't Tread on Me.

"'The use of patriotism as a political sword or a political shield is as old as the Republic,' Obama said. 'Still, what is striking about today's patriotism debate is the degree to which it remains rooted in the culture wars of the 1960s -- in arguments that go back 40 years or more. In the early years of the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, defenders of the status quo often accused anybody who questioned the wisdom of government policies of being unpatriotic.'"

From Unity (NH) to Independence (MO), Sen. Obama -- pushing back against the current GOP strategy -- delivers a long and eloquent speech on the issue of patriotism. [Transcript.] "His speech put the issue in a sweeping historical perspective, speaking of charges that Thomas Jefferson had sold the nation out to the French and that John Adams was in cahoots with the British. He also questioned policies enacted in the name of patriotism, from Adams' Alien and Sedition Act, Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's internment of Japanese Americans...'I give him credit. He is taking this very seriously,' said presidential historian Robert Dallek."