I'm trying to come to terms with America's reaction to Obama, as an Obama supporter who's feeling a little bitter after our primary here in Pennsylvania on April 22.

I don't always agree with Peggy Noonan, but do like to read her because she's often provocative and gives me a non-crazy glimpse into the mind of the Right. The normal right, I'd call them.

This today:
http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

So: Pennsylvania. As seen from the distance of West Texas, central California and Oklahoma, which is where I've been.

Main thought. Hillary Clinton is not Barack Obama's
problem. America is Mr. Obama's problem. He has been tagged as a snooty
lefty, as the glamorous, ambivalent candidate from Men's Vogue, the
candidate who loves America because of the great progress it has made
in terms of racial fairness. Fine, good. But has 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? There's gold in that history.

John McCain carries it in his bones. Mr. McCain
learned it in school, in the Naval Academy, and, literally, at
grandpa's knee. Mrs. Clinton learned at least its importance in her
long slog through Arkansas, circa 1977-92.

Mr. Obama? What does he think about all that history?
Which is another way of saying: What does he think of America? That's
why people talk about the flag pin absent from the lapel. They wonder
if it means something. Not that the presence of the pin proves love of
country – any cynic can wear a pin, and many cynics do. But what about
Obama and America? Who would have taught him to love it, and what did
he learn was loveable, and what does he think about it all?

Another challenge. Snooty lefties get angry when you ask them to talk about these things. They get resentful. Who are you to question my patriotism?
But no one is questioning his patriotism, they're questioning its
content, its fullness. Gate 14 has a right to hear this. They'd lean
forward to hear.

This is an opportunity, for Mr. Obama needs an Act II.
Act II is hard. Act II is where the promise of Act I is deepened, the
plot thickens, and all is teed up for resolution and meaning. Mr.
Obama's Act I was: I'm Obama. He enters the scene. Act III will be the
convention and acceptance speech. After that a whole new drama begins.
But for now he needs Act II. He should make his subject America.

Thoughts?