Obama Campaign Being Asked About Flag Pin

Comments (21)

Akonitum wrote on October 5, 2007 12:30 PM:

Patriotism Obama-style on DailyKos.

Denise Calhoun wrote on October 5, 2007 12:36 PM:

I am American and I can totally understand the statement Obama is making. I am ashamed to admit I am an American while the Bush administration is in office. They do not stand for what the people in the greatest country in the world stand for. I love my country but right now we look like a disgrace to the rest of the world

Suzanne wrote on October 5, 2007 12:40 PM:

Answering a reporter's question is hardly a declaration out of nowhere. And saying "he will no longer" wear the pin is misleading as well, as his statement was explaining why he hasn't been wearing the pin.

That just happens to be the same way the Republican machine is gearing up to spin it: that out of nowhere Obama decided to make a petty move.

I don't see why Obama answering a question about a small decision he made quietly a long time ago is so newsworthy, myself.

biff diggerence wrote on October 5, 2007 12:43 PM:

Quite refreshing, actually.

I despised those silly little pins on first sight, and the inference that whoever is wearing one "is Amurika".

The last observed wearers of Old Glory were Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and President Goofball.

The only acceptable variant would be the
Wizard of Whimsy design.

An Old Glory Lapel Pin in the shape of a bomb.

Dave wrote on October 5, 2007 12:54 PM:

Have Republican attacks ever been on a matter of substance? I think not, we should expect nothing less. I think Obama's and McPeak's comments were on the mark. Good grief.

ARG in Chicago wrote on October 5, 2007 12:56 PM:

Yes, 15 pieces of flare is the minimum. But do you just want to wear the /minimum/ amount of flare? I would hope you would want to go beyond the minimum.

-- ARG

keith wrote on October 5, 2007 1:07 PM:

Thank you ARG for the best comment (and best laugh) I've seen on this issue.

keith wrote on October 5, 2007 1:10 PM:

Seems to me this is a perfect issue for Obama to establish that he's not going to get snowballed by some non-issue attack by the RNC (see, e.g., Swift Boat and John Kerry).

slb wrote on October 5, 2007 1:11 PM:

A couple of days ago, I saw one of those magnetic flags on the back of an SUV -- mounted upside-down. Maybe Obama could consider wearing the pin that way.

Keith wrote on October 5, 2007 1:20 PM:

Quick recommendation: Peggy Noonan has an op-ed piece on the Democrats (Obama in particular) that is worth a read.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010691

Anonymous wrote on October 5, 2007 1:28 PM:

I am as far left as you can go, and I am appalled that you would stop wearing a flag pin to show you are patriotic without waving the flag. I have a flag flying in my yard, and I do this to show support for our troops in Iraq. I never supported the Iraq war or the occupation, but that never stopped me from wearing the flag or waving the flag. Just because I am a liberal populist does not mean I quit careing about our troops or our country.

AJ wrote on October 5, 2007 1:33 PM:

Keith- I find that hard to believe.

Coonsey wrote on October 5, 2007 1:36 PM:

Sounds to me like SOMEBODY is a bit worried about Obama WINNING the primaries next year.....Hm'mmm. Who could that be? FOX NEWS, White House, GOP, Hillary, Edwards?

If Obama is doing so BADLY in the polls as every media outlet keeps reporting - why would anybody CARE what Obama WEARS or not?

Thanks to Chris Wallace of Fox for admitting he too does not wear the pin for basically the same reason.

Saint Augustine wrote on October 5, 2007 1:44 PM:

The flag lapel pin worn by so many today remimds me of an incident concerning another pin I wore once.

I was in the 6th grade in 1956 and one day I took the round brass US button off my father's WWII Eisenhower jacket and wore it on the front pocket of my pants.

My teacher, one Mr. Rogers, took me aside and berated me for descreating the memory of our soldiers who died in the war. I told my father about it when I went home.

I was very proud of my father, who was in the Battle of the Bulge, when he went to school the next day and told my teacher, who had never been in the military, that I could wear his pin anytime I wanted.

That I was proud of my father and his service and that my father's pride in me to emulate him by wearing his pin was not seen by my teacher.

Today, concerning our flag, I personally feel that this administration has placed too much emphasis on symbols and has even redesigned some that seem rather fascist.

Keith wrote on October 5, 2007 1:49 PM:

AJ: Not having it read it myself, I would be skeptical as well. Still, it is quite the departure from her normal columns.

mopper wrote on October 5, 2007 2:17 PM:

Keith: you're on point. That Peggy Noonan piece is surprising in both its even-handedness and its lucidity. Good stuff.

onceler wrote on October 5, 2007 2:17 PM:

Go Barack! Screw all this ridiculous, childish fake patriotism. Flag pins, pledges of allegiance, apple pie, blah di blah, its all such transparent bullshit.

bob wrote on October 5, 2007 2:26 PM:

Who wants to bet that the local Iowa TV person was set up to try to pull a gotcha on this by right-wingers. Pretty random issue to just come to you to ask a candidate about.

The real problem with the flag lapel pins isn't who doesn't wear them but who DOES. The people who wear them while running our country into the ground are the real problem. Why doesn't the Iowa TV station do a report on that?

Bush and Cheney constantly hide behind their little flag pins while they subvert the constitution (on torture, wiretapping, secrecy, etc.).

wes2 wrote on October 5, 2007 2:33 PM:

Sorry for the somewhat OT comment, but why hasn't EC done a piece on Obama's role in killing the von Spakovsky nomination to the FEC? It's the best news I've seen out of the Obama camp in days, and I'd love to know where the rest of the candidates in the Senate stood on the issue.

Not to distract from the crucial and earth-shaking issue of pin-wearing in favor of whims and trivialities like voting rights...

vwcat wrote on October 5, 2007 9:12 PM:

This is excellent in the way the right wing is pounding Obama over this.
It gives Barack Obama a chance to answer the wingnut armchair patriots and it also builds his cred in facing the attack machine.
this can show that Hillary is not, as she claims, the only one who can fight the wingnuts.

Jan wrote on October 6, 2007 5:02 AM:

I'm a Clinton supporter, but as far as I'm concerned, this was a sterling moment for Obama and I'm proud of him. In addition, the General's ad that he put out immediately flipped off the Rightwing Slime Machine quite beautifully.

(As a p.s., this is why I think the MoveOn/Rush broo-ha-ha was important to Democrats. The Fox Slime Machine was shut down yesterday because they can no longer publicly disparage the Democrats' military voices so easily.)

Anyone who would measure patriotism by a pin is an idiot.
And anyone who would measure patriotism by a FLAG pin is a fascist.
(I'm not name-calling -- look up the definition of fascism.)

We are a military family. What our military defends is our Constitution, not our flag.
All nations have flags.
But the constitution that defines democracy is America's Constitution.

It is a dangerous business in a democarcy to start defining sensibilities like patriotism with a indicator that can be purchased.

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