"The truth is that right after 9-11 I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9-11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.
"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," he said in the interview. "Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism."
The media never asks the right follow up questions. Does Obama think that people who wear breast cancer ribbons or aids ribbons are using those as substitutes for real compassion?
Democrats are always angry that people question their patriotism, but they don't mind questioning the patriotism of others. People wear pins and ribbons for a lot of different reasons. I'm sure that some do so for heartfelt reasons others simply as a shortcut like Obama says. But when Obama makes a point of telling us why he doesn't wear a pin he's grandstanding just the same as those people who wear the pins simply for effect.
We don't know how much any candidate loves his country. We hope they all love it a great deal since they want to run it. Maybe they want to run it so they can love it more than they do now. We can't be sure.
What we do know is that Obama declaring that he won't wear the American flag pin helps him court voters that do not like this country, the ones that are more comfortable carrying hammer and sickle flags like that group protesting in New York before the 2004 Republican convention. The latest Fox poll shows that almost 20% of Democrats want to lose the war. Obama can't win those voters over by wearing flag lapel pins.
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