Should Obama Wear the Flag Pin?
In today’s Los Angeles Times, Gregory Rodriguez argues that Obama should start wearing his flag lapel pin again:
According to polls, most Americans do consider themselves pretty patriotic, and presumably, not more than a small cadre of professors and their grad students would register any significant protest to a politician wearing a lapel pin. Worse yet, by eschewing the use of patriotic symbolism, Obama and Democrats like him only hand the Republicans the stick with which to beat them.
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Historically, the meaning of patriotism has been fluid and open to debate. In the U.S., the primary tension has been between those who think it means unquestioning loyalty to one’s country, and those who use it to refer to devotion to the nation’s political ideals.
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If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, the lapel pin incident will only hurt him in the fall. But by sporting the flag and redefining the meaning of patriotism, he could very possibly help himself, his party and us all.
Rodriguez misses one important consequence of Obama donning the pin again: By putting the flag back on his lapel, he will draw attention to it again, and Republicans would not be so kind as to applaud his overt patriotism. Instead they would beat him again - harder. Can’t you just hear it? “Look at Obama! Why has he started wearing that flag pin again? Does that mean he thinks his ideas alone do not make him patriotic enough? He certainly won’t admit that! The only reason he’s wearing that flag now is because we told him he should. What a pussy!”
So what I’m thinking is that Obama’s lapel will remain flagless for quite a while.
Oh, and just in case any of you readers out there are questioning the patriotism of the contributors to this blog…
We are SUPER PATRIOTS!
…and we must not think bad thoughts.
