When, years from now, hindsight-benefited historians look back on the primary elections of 2008, especially during the weeks in April and early May, one thing will appear crystal clear: flag lapel pins didn’t matter.
Nor did bowling scores, nor renegade reverends, nor harsh adjectives used to describe the mood of small-town Americans harshly abandoned by big corporations, and the big government that served them.
No, flag lapel pins did not matter to voters, who agreed with and voted for the man who was not afraid to campaign in the patriotic nude, the man who eschewed the venerable American flag pin in favor of letting his words and deeds demonstrate his patriotism, rather than a two-cent chunk of recycled Chinese metal with a fresh paint job.
The Great Flag Lapel Pin Media Controversy began in October of 2007, when Senator Barack Obama, campaigning in Iowa, was asked why his lapel was shorn of patriotic jewelry:
You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. 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.
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 testimony to my patriotism. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. And you show your patriotism by being true to your values and ideals. And that’s what we have to lead with, our values and ideals.
The Great Media Controversy raged again in April 2008, when a woman named Nash McCabe of LaTrobe, Pennsylvania, asked Senator Obama during a televised debate why he did not wear an American flag pin. As it turned out, Ms. McCabe had been put up to the question by the debate moderators, George Stephanopolous and Charles Gibson, who later said they thought the question was "appropriate and relevant."
The media firestorm after each event was, naturally, intense. Pundits, rather than speculate on the merits and manner of the war itself, questioned how Senator Obama’s motives for shunning patriotic fashion accessories harmed our troops in Iraq.
Faux news broadcasters, ever in pursuit of fairness and balance, insinuated that flagless politicians were godless communists bent on subverting our youth, and banning apple pies and amber waves of grain.
But it turned out that in early May 2008 the citizens of Indiana and North Carolina proved neither to be so distractible, nor so gullible.
They understood that Barack Obama was a senator in the Congress of the United States of America. They understood pretty clearly which nation he was standing behind.
These voters in Indiana and North Carolina knew all too well the damage done to our nation by men who hid behind flag lapel pins while abusing the very principles and ideals for which the flag stands. And they understood all too clearly that flag lapel pins do not necessarily improve the character of those who wear them.
After all, which is the greater insult to patriotism, to refuse to wear a pin, or to commit acts that are inherently unpatriotic? Extraordinary renditions, torture, and warrant-less wiretapping are all being done at the behest of men and women wearing American flag lapel pins, to say nothing of catastrophic wars of choice.
Wearing a flag pin on a lapel is much the same as having a "support our troops" ribbon magnet on the back end of a Hummer. It is by and large a vacuous gesture.
Yet to say that flag pins are "substitutes for true patriotism" isn’t quite right. It’s not that simplistic. Not all who wear flag lapel pins are hypocrites or, worse, fake patriots. Some are, and some are not. Some who wear them love their country, and have served their country, and are sincere in wanting to wear their pride in their country.
But the refusal to wear a flag lapel pin – while not necessarily making one a super patriot – should not be met with accusations of being unpatriotic, especially in a time of war. We got through World War II without FDR, so far as I know, ever being photographed with a flag lapel pin. Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt, and George H.W. Bush all presided over our nation during wartime without benefit of kitschy lapel armament.
In fact, so far as I can remember, no presidents other than Richard Nixon and George W. Bush have worn an American flag lapel pin. When you consider these two men and their legacies, what does that tell us?
Personally, I am not interested in candidates who declare "my country, right or wrong". I am not interested in flaunting displays of bits of metal. I worry in fact where demanding such displays will lead: will it be long before we demand of our candidates that they display their religion by wearing cross lapel pins?
I am interested only in candidates who in their daily work and action quietly display their love for country by striving to uphold and defend the ideals and principles upon which this nation was founded. Acting in accordance with the principles that our country supposes itself to be based on is so much more important than wrapping oneself in the symbols of patriotism.
When the day comes that my nation, and its political leaders, truly live up to its founding ideals – rather than trumping them with greed, intolerance, and hubris – then I, too, will affix an American flag pin to my lapel.
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Bob Schieffer, CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent, on flag pins, April 20th, 2008:
I watched the ABC debate the other night when the question came up, again, about why Senator Obama doesn't wear a flag pin in his lapel. Since no one asked me, here's my thought on all that.
I think it is a nice thing if people want to wear a flag on their lapel. But I believe it more important to keep the flag behind our lapel - in our hearts. I feel the same way about wearing my religion on my sleeve; it fits better for me on the inside.
When I go to see our local baseball team, I do wear my Washington Nationals baseball cap. But am I less a fan if I don't wear it to work?
The truth is I have been known to wear a red, white, and blue stars and stripes tie on the Fourth of July. Am I less patriotic when I trade it for my Santa Claus tie at Christmas?
Patriotism is no more about signs or pins than religion is about reminding others how pious we think we are. No, the proof in these puddings is not the signs we wear but how we act. Wouldn't that also be a better way to judge our presidential candidates than by the jewelry they wear?
United States Code Title 4, Chapter One, Section 8: Respect For Flag
Bill Maher on Flag Lapel Pins: Minute 2:25
Flag Lapel Pin Cartoon