On October 4, a local news station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa asked Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama why he hadn’t been wearing the American flag lapel pin that has become customary in American politics. Obama said that he felt that the pin, for many politicians, had become a substitute for “true patriotism.”

As one might expect in today’s controversy-driven media culture, Obama’s statement that he consciously made a decision not to wear a pin of the American flag on his lapel set off a firestorm that has continued throughout the week. Headlines such as “Obama won’t wear U.S. flag pin” and “Obama stops wearing flag pin” were all over the news. Political blogs and online message boards were filled with discussion. FOX News dedicated endless coverage and discussion to the controversy. Ann Coulter said that Obama’s decision wasn’t surprising because “liberals hate the flag.” Peter Johnson, Jr., FOX News’ legal analyst, said that by not wearing the pin, Obama was saying that he was “embarrassed by this pin that represents, out of all the things it represents, civil rights and America’s preeminence in the field of civil rights.”

These criticisms are completely ridiculous, of course. In fact, as Coulter discussed liberals’ hatred for the flag, a clip of Obama giving a recent campaign speech with a giant American flag as his backdrop was being shown. Johnson’s claim that Obama is embarrassed by civil rights is so utterly insane that it isn’t even worthy of the effort to type a rebuttal.

The criticisms are only emblematic of the simplicity of contemporary political discourse. Wearing a pin has become a litmus test for patriotism. It should be noted that Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, John Edwards and John McCain (whose patriotism is pretty unquestionable) are all presidential candidates who do not wear the flag pin regularly. But the claims that Barack Obama is embarrassed by his country or hates the flag aren’t concerned with that reality. It’s easier to call someone unpatriotic, and it makes for a better story.

The critics don’t devote much time to discussing Obama’s explanation for not wearing the pin. After the interview, Obama expanded upon his defense during a campaign stop. He said, “I’m less concerned about what you’re wearing on your lapel than what’s in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve.”

This is the real story to be discussed. Instead of labeling a politician “patriotic” or “unpatriotic,” we should be asking what patriotism really is. Does a lapel pin denote patriotism? Is a politician who wears a pin of the American flag but doesn’t provide troops in Iraq with necessary body armor patriotic? Barack Obama isn’t anti-flag; he’s anti-pin. He’s against cookie-cutter politicians, and that’s a good thing.

That message, though, may be pretty hard for him to get across to the American public, as Robert Thompson of Syracuse University told the New York Daily News on October 5. Thompson said that Obama’s attempt to explain his decision could ironically make the issue bigger and harder for people to understand. Unfortunately, it looks like he may be right judging by the lack of positive reaction and Hillary Clinton’s increasing lead in the polls. Perhaps it was a simply bad political move on Obama’s part. On October 5, the Chicago Sun-Times ran an editorial advising Obama to “pin the darn American flag to your chest and tell people you’re as patriotic as anyone.” That would certainly be easier for him, but Barack Obama has never been concerned with what’s easy.

The pin incident is representative of Obama’s candidacy. He’s running a campaign that has, in many ways, run against the grain of the traditional campaign. He’s rejected lobbyist money. He’s spoken his true beliefs in front of groups that don’t want to hear them and he’s said that he would be willing to talk with foreign leaders whom the United States has thus far refused to deal with diplomatically. So far, these tactics haven’t translated into great success and they have largely been viewed as evidence of his inexperience in national politics.

Instead, though, his campaign should be viewed as a welcome relief from the demeaning style of modern politics. Other campaigns, by both Democrats and Republicans, have treated the American people as simple and incapable of understanding issues. They’ve resorted to simple slogans, images and cheap-shot criticisms of their opponents. Obama has instead decided not to talk down to voters. He’s chosen to treat them as people who are intellectually capable of understanding his thinking.

Many opponents, pundits and political commentators haven’t yet endorsed his unorthodox approach to politics, claiming that political campaigns function the way they do because it’s the only way to be successful. Maybe they have gotten it right. Maybe the American people aren’t able to fully understand issues and who they’re voting for. Maybe Barack Obama is on a fool’s errand, and his discussion of true patriotism will go right over the heads of voters.

But let’s all hope that’s not the case, otherwise we’ll have a much bigger problem than the wearing or not-wearing of a pin to deal with.

Altin is a senior in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via e-mail at astila@wustl.edu.

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