Burning Flag Question

Burning Flag Question

What you are about to read has absolutely nothing to do with sports, girls or flag burning for that matter. Rather, it is a subject that has baffled me for several years now: Why does the president of the United States of America, George W. Bush, always wear an American flag pin in his lapel?

Are there people somewhere in the world who don’t know that he is the president? Are there people confused about what country he runs? Does wearing an American flag pin make him more patriotic? Does not wearing an American flag pin make me unpatriotic? Is the pin some secret communication device that in the event of an emergency creates an impenetrable force field around Bush?

This is not just some anti-Republican, crazed left-wing Massachusetts liberal rant because the Democrats are just as guilty. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush and the Democratic nominee, John Kerrey, seemed to be locked in a death battle over the size of their American flag pins. There are innumerable Democratic politicians who loathe Bush who nonetheless have jumped on the American flag pin bandwagon because they are afraid to look un-American by not wearing one. And you wonder why John Kerrey ends up being the Democratic presidential candidate. Ridiculous.

But with apologies to David Beckham, Bush is the most recognizable living human on the planet. Why does he feel the need to wear an American flag pin while standing in front of an American flag while standing in the Oval Office in the White House? At some point, don’t all these stars and stripes become redundant?

Doing some elementary research (image searches on Google) I could not find another picture of an American president regularly wearing an American flag pin. Clinton- no. Bush the 1st- no. Reagan- no. Carter- no. Ford- no. Nixon- no. Kennedy- no. But do a quick search of George W. Bush and virtually every image features an American flag pin.

Bush wearing an American flag pin on his suit is like Terry Francona wearing a Red Sox pin on his uniform. It’s like George Steinbrenner wearing a Yankees’ pin on his turtleneck. It’s like Britney Spears wearing a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome pin- it’s unnecessary, redundant and makes no real sense.

I believe that the Bush flag pin phenomenon can be traced back to September 11th. Obviously, there was an understandable swelling of patriotism after the attacks. People hung flags, cars featured patriotic bumper stickers and red, white and blue become the new black. I have no problem with any of that.

Suddenly, Bush and every other Senator, Congressman, State Rep, City Councilor and School Committee Member was sporting the American flag pin. Initially, I can see how in the aftermath of the attacks, people forced to wear suits to work (suckers) wanted some way to show their patriotism. But most of the office workers of America have put away the American flag pins. Not Bush and other politicians- they have stuck with it and seem terrified to remove them. There seems to be a very real fear among America’s political leaders that if they remove their American flag pins, there will be uprisings in the street and mass anarchy all leading to the eventual overthrow of the government.

I am here to tell President Bush, the members of the Cabinet and Congress and every locally elected official that it is ok to take off the pin. I think of Bush at the G-8 meetings with his trusty American flag pin just getting tooled on by the other leaders of the industrialized nations. I’m sure that Tony Blair told the guards to stop Bush at the door and ask him what country he was with just so Bush would have to point to his American flag pin while all the other leaders were laughing their asses off.

Honestly, Mr. President, we know who you are. We know that you are the president of the United States of America, the country I live in. People all over the world know who you are and they know that you are the President of the United States of America. No one, other than Howard Dean, moveon.org and Al Franken, is going to question your patriotism if you take the American flag pin off. And once Dean and Franken open their mouths, millions of dollars flow into the Republican National Committee coffers so don’t sweat it.

Take the pin off. You look like a geek.

Jamie Chisholm