Fayette Observer

Clark, stumping for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, said this election season has shown him just how divided the nation is.

He mentioned recent Republican attacks that have questioned Democrats’ patriotism, and implications that some Americans are real while others are not.

Clark said Americans are sick of it. After his speech at Java Express, while signing books and photographs, Clark told a reporter that “people can well understand what love of country is.”

“I think the voters will decide who the real Americans are,” he said.

Officials with the McCain campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Clark’s remarks.

One charge that has been frequently leveled against Obama in recent weeks is that he is a socialist.

“I hear a lot about socialism,” Clark said. “The only place I see it is in the Treasury Department buying into the banks.”

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Clark’s speech went over well with the coffee-shop crowd.

Paul Dauphin, a retired Army medic, sat with two other men at a table near the corner where Clark stood. Sipping their coffee with their jackets still on, Dauphin, Terry Mullen and Tom Stubblebine said they think North Carolina, a longtime Republican stronghold, may be slipping away from McCain.

Mullen, 73, wrote his campaign contribution check in 2000 to McCain. But he doesn’t see enough of the same man anymore, he said. Using patriotism for political gain doesn’t always go over well among the military community, said Stubblebine, a retired Air Force colonel.

“I’m very careful whenever someone wraps themselves in the flag,” he said. “I just don’t buy it.”