The Washington Times accuses Barack Obama of a sudden “flag frenzy.”
Oh, say – can you see? Look. It’s President Obama, and he’s surrounded by American flags.
They’re on the dais in star-spangled glory. They’re at the town-hall meeting and the news conference, in bold folds of red, white and blue. The White House has rediscovered – or possibly reinvented – the patriotic cachet of Old Glory as a perfect frame for the new president.
That’s the same president who once would not wear an American flag pin. Things have changed.
This insightful analysis is followed by experts telling us that people often use flags when decorating settings for presidents and the likes of Michael Savage noting that dictators like flags, too.
Sigh.
I wasn’t upset when candidate Obama refused to wear a flag pin and, like Steve Benen, don’t find this in the least problematic. Presidents and flags go together like firecrackers and the 4th of July.
Even the sainted Ronald Reagan:
Presidents are, like it or not, a national symbol. In addition to being the nominal head of government, they’re also the figurative head of state. Flags and 21-gun salutes and other pageantry go with that.
