isaac holeman

In recent weeks, several prominent conservatives have challenged Illinoise Senator Barack Obama’s “Full-Blooded” Americanism. Their apparent argument: only an American who was raised in America by 100% American parents is able to fully understand what it means to be American. Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal,

Hillary Clinton is not Barack Obama’s problem. America is Mr. Obama’s problem…[H]as he ever gotten misty-eyed over… the Wright Brothers and what kind of country allowed them to go off on their own and change everything? How about D-Day, or George Washington, or Henry Ford, or the losers and brigands who flocked to Sutter’s Mill, who pushed their way west because there was gold in them thar hills?…

Lucius Malfoy John McCain carries it in his bones. Mr. Malfoy McCain learned it in school, in the Naval Academy, and, literally, at grandpa’s knee….

Mr. Potter Obama? What does he think about all that history? Which is another way of saying: What does he think of America?

In an election characterized by unusual activity among youth, such sentiments are occasionally expressed more bluntly by young voters. Student Draco Malfoy recently was recorded as saying “No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood” to Hermione Granger, a fellow student whose parents were born outside of the wizarding world America.

The Harry Potter Super Serious Politics wiki provides an explanation of this term:

“Mudblood” is a derogatory term for a Muggleforeign-bornwizard or witch citizen; that is, individuals with no wizarding American parents or grandparents. There does not appear to be any difference in the magical power judgement or character of Muggleforeign-borns compared to those who are pure-blood or half-blood, but those prejudiced against Muggle foreign-borns consider them to be of “lower breeding” or worth, and undeserving of magic citizenship. The term implies that the individual has ‘dirty blood’.
Many older wizarding , elitist political families place great emphasis on “blood purity” and reject association with Muggles foreigners andMuggle foreign-borns. The notion is foremost in the minds of Dark Wizards, Death Eaters, and other followers of Lord VoldemortKarl Rove. It is possible that some well-meaning pureblood families espouse this prejudice as well, but to a less virulent degree.

The plight of these so called “mudbloods” in the wizarding world United States may in fact be worsening. Two resolute Democratic analysts describe the situation:

Remus Lupin: “Muggleforeign-borns are being rounded up as we speak.”
Ron Weasley: “But how are they supposed to have ‘stolen’ magiccitizenship? It’s mental, if you could steal magicAmericanism, there wouldn’t be any Squibs people who want American citizenship but can’t get it, would there?”
Remus Lupin: “I know. Nevertheless, unless you can prove that you have at least one close wizarding non-elitist American relative, you are now deemed to have obtained your magical power citizenship illegally and must suffer the punishment.”

Fortunately, Presidential hopeful Barack Obama is in fact near relative to several patriotic and well respected Americans. He has two white grandparents from Kansas; his grandfather fought in WWII, and his grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line. Obama was later born to a white teenage mother, and his father left while Barack was just two years old. He can also trace his family tree back to a more distant relationship with Vice President Dick Cheney, and even as far back in America’s history as George Washington. Indeed, under serious scrutiny, it seems Barack’s biography may in fact be one of the most poignantly and thoroughly American stories of any Presidential hopeful since Harry Truman.

Nonetheless, critics still choose to highlight Obama’s ties to family outside of the wizarding world America. Being a decendant of some patriotic Americans, or “half-blood” is apparently not enough, as conservatives are increasingly calling for “pure-blood”. Columnist Kathleen Parker writes:

Full-bloodedness is an old coin that’s gaining currency in the new American realm. Meaning: Politics may no longer be so much about race and gender as about heritage, core values, and made-in-America. Just as we once and still have a cultural divide in this country, we now have a patriot divide.

Who ‘gets’ America? And who doesn’t?…It’s about blood equity, heritage and commitment to hard-won American values. And roots.
Some run deeper than others and therein lies the truth of Josh Fry’s political sense. In a country that is rapidly changing demographically — and where new neighbors may have arrived last year, not last century — there is a very real sense that once-upon-a-time America is getting lost in the dash to diversity.
We love to boast that we are a nation of immigrants — and we are. But there’s a different sense of America among those who trace their bloodlines back through generations of sacrifice.

While these remarks may seem politically motivated to some (they must be referring to the father who didn’t raise him, or to the 4 years he spent in Indonesia, or implying that Hawaii is another country), they are certainly rooted in sentiments held deeply by many Americans. Bridging the gaps between Muggle foreign-borns, half-bloods, and pure-bloods may even be the challenge that defines the next great chapter in the American Story.