Barack Hussein Obama (I’ll bet he just hates the use of his middle name) is right on at least one score: the image of patriotism that is meant to be conveyed by the all-but-universal display of an American flag. On the lapel, on your car, in front of your house, wherever. A 24/7 display that says: I’m an American!
Of course, such displays would be much more meaningful in another country. After all, for those of us who speak English and live here, the presumption is that we are Americans. But, hey, your results may vary, especially if you wear your American flag lapel pin in some parts of the world.
Now comes a mini-flap involving Obama. From the AP:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he doesn’t wear an American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for “true patriotism” since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Sadly, I must agree with Obama. A flag pin, if considered mandatory to express one’s love of country, loses all meaning. Flags are powerful symbols, and, in the right context, are things that we go into battle to defend. But the mere wearing of a pin is, as Obama implies, meaningless by itself.
What counts is what you say and do. Especially the latter. For a left-leaning politico like Obama, his protestations are just a little hollow. Obama is a cut-and-run, surrender while we’re on the way out Democrat. Oh, but, just in case you question his manhood, he’s ready to drop the big one on Pakistan. This is the very kind of braggadocio that the Democrats, sometimes with good cause, accuse the Bushies of.
Obama is right about the wearing of a flag pin, however. It is no substitute for victory or for actual support of our troops in the field.
