Get Back to the 'One Nation,' Barack

Give us our “one nation” Obama back, the New Republic editors demand: Barack has been "sapping the charisma from his campaign” to chase down the white working class, and now that Clinton is (all but) gone, it’s time to pivot back to pure patriotism. Trumpeting national unity was Obama’s “greatest political strength” earlier in the year, and suddenly his feelings about America have become a “liability.”

When McCain talks up Obama’s connection to Bill Ayers or his endorsement by Hamas, he’s painting the Dem as a “cultural foreigner.” But Barack first surged as a candidate of reconciliation, as a figure that rose above social and cultural divisions—and that’s the general election candidate we need. So bring back that “shot of idealism.” (More Barack Obama stories.)