Love for His Country

President Obama Has, in Fact, Expressed Love for His Country

By Michael Barbaro and Michael D. Shear

At the heart of the Giuliani-led critique of the president’s patriotism is the suggestion that Barack Obama has never expressed love for the United States.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, has even challenged the media to find examples of Mr. Obama expressing such affection.

Has the president done so?

Yes, he has.

A review of his public remarks provides multiple examples.

In 2008, when he was still a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama uttered the magic words in Berlin, during a speech to thousands.

“I also know how much I love America,” he said at the time.

He did it again that same year during his speech at the Democratic National Convention, observing that “I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain.”

Mr. Obama used a similar construction, as president, in 2011, during a town hall meeting in Illinois, when he recalled “why I love this country so much.”

Mr. Giuliani told Fox News that “I don’t hear from him what I heard from Harry Truman, what I heard from Bill Clinton, what I heard from Jimmy Carter, which is these wonderful words about what a great country we are, what an exceptional country we are.”

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin joined the debate over the weekend, saying he did not know whether Mr. Obama loves the United States.

But over hundreds of speeches, Mr. Obama has paid tribute to the United States as “the greatest democratic, economic, and military force for freedom and human dignity the world has ever known,” vowed that “we will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense,” and declared that “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”

In 2004, during the Democratic National Convention speech that galvanized his political career, he offered these words of affection for the United States: “I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.”

Mr. Obama has not shied from criticizing the United States for what he sees as its historical shortcomings, an approach that has angered conservatives like Mr. Giuliani for years.

In fact, several of Mr. Obama’s most emphatic expressions of patriotism appear in close proximity to his critiques of America, a review of his speeches shows.

Right before Mr. Obama declared his love for America in Berlin, he had this to say:

“I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.”

“But I also know,” Mr. Obama said, “how much I love America.”