One of Obama’s greatest strengths, heading into this presidential election, was how pleasantly normal he seemed. And as his campaign has hit pothole after pothole since losing Ohio and Texas, his “nice guy” aura has tarnished and faded a bit.

Sometimes, a mountain is made out of a molehill. It’s not a big deal when Obama won’t smile for the pushy guy who wants a picture, and there are bigger gaffes than sounding a little whiny when asking, “why can’t I just eat my waffle”?

But every once in a while, the mask completely slips, and Obama really sounds like a jerk. And I would submit that it occurred Saturday during an event in Indiana. (Hat tip, LGF.)

“And the second thing, the way this has come up is the fact that I don’t always wear a flag pin. Now I don’t know if any of you who don’t have flag pins consider yourselves unpatriotic. I think you’re patriotic. 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 then referred to the time last October, when a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, TV reporter asked him why he didn’t wear a flag pin.
“Then I was asked about this in Iowa,” Obama said. “And somebody said ‘Why don’t you wear a flag pin?’ I said, well, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I said, although I will say that sometimes I notice that they’re people who wear flag pins but they don’t always act patriotic. And I was specifically referring to politicians, not individuals who wear flag pins, but politicians who you see wearing flag pins and then vote against funding for veterans, saying we can’t afford it.”
(What Obama said last October was: “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.”)
Obama continued, saying “so I make this comment. suddenly a bunch of these, you know, TV commentators and bloggers (say) ‘Obama is disrespecting people who wear flag pins.’ Well, that’s just not true. Also, another way of saying it is, it’s a lie.”

Bloggers aren’t lying. Back in October, Obama suggested that the wearing of the flag pin was “a substitute for true patriotism,” and he didn’t mention politicians, he didn’t mention votes for funding for veterans, he didn’t mention not referring to individuals. Only Barack Obama can retroactively insist that a statement is a specific reference to a particular group, without actually specifically referring to that particular group.

When called out on something — say, misquoting McCain on the 100 years statement — Obama’s reflexive move is to insist the person doubting his credibility is lying. When Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous asked him tough questions, his followers screamed bloody murder.

The strategy is clear: when you say something negative about Obama, you will be accused of lying.