Is Michelle Obama Unpatriotic or is Cindy McCain the Unpatriotic One?

I want to start out by saying plainly, I love the United States of America. I really don't want to live anywhere else. America has been great to me and I want to return that favor by working hard to make this an even better country. With that being said, there are some serious issues that need to be addressed and one of those is patriotism. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, Patriotism is defined as "love for or devotion to one's country." So, what does it mean to love one's country. To me, there are two clear aspects of patriotism when regarding love: blind unconditional love and conditional love. Blind love is exactly as it sounds: regardless of what is going on, you blindly love your country. It doesn't matter what it does or how it behaves, you love it. I relate this to a baby's love of their parents. They don't see flaws, they don't know any differently, they just love. Conditional love is a little different. You love your country, but you also know that there are flaws in it that you want to fix. This is like a parent raising the child. As a parent, you know that there are flaws in your child and instead of just brushing it aside, you try to fix it. If you really love your kids, you don't want to have them grow up as bastards who have numerous flaws. You punish them when they do something wrong, praise them when they do something right and you love them no matter what.

The reason that I bring this up is because of Michelle Obama's recent remarks that have caused conservatives to throw their arms up and call her unpatriotic. If you missed it, the New York Times quotes her as saying "For the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country. And not because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change." Of course, the McCain campaign has taken a hold of it. The New York Times article also bring up what Cindy McCain said in response to Michelle Obama, stating "I'm proud of my country. I don't know about you -- if you heard those words earlier -- I'm very proud of my country."