To offset complaints that he was just wearing the patriotic lapel pin for show, he spoke about it in Kokomo, Ind., on Friday, as reported by Jake Tapper of ABC News.
“This is a phony issue,” Obama said. “So let me address it right now.”
Just what we need, politicians who are brave enough to tackle what they view as the phony issues of the day.
Obama on Friday: “The reason that I don’t always wear a flag pin is not that I disrespect the flag, it’s that when I started wearing a flag pin after 9/11, I gotta admit that sometimes I would misplace it and so I didn’t always put it on.”
Obama in October: “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.”
Thank you, Sen. Obama, for clarifying where you stand on this “phony issue.”