The Hypocrisy of Flag Pin Patriotism

Possibly the lowest point in the recent Pennsylvania debate on ABC, which was chock full of low points, was the manufactured distraction flag pin question.  Here is a picture of Hillary Clinton from that debate, helpfully captioned LOL cat style.

Why was Clinton not grilled on her lack of a flag pin?  The smaller reason is because of her successful ability to culturally appropriate.  For example, taking on a southern accent and invoking her Arkansas first lady belle-ness when campaigning in the south, invoking civil rights bona fides while wooing black voters by recounting her junior high field trip to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak, and lately attempting to cozy up to rural Pennsylvanians by knocking back boilermakers while telling tales of her mill working grandfather (John Edwards called and he wants his campaign anecdote back) and dear ole pappy who taught her to duck hunt.  So, when she and Bill threw a dart at a map of the U.S. and declared themselves New Yorkers, she need merely point to the fact that she was in office as a New York Senator when "her city" was attacked and therefore she is patriotic.

The larger reason is because she is white.  That's not to say that white people cannot have their patriotism questioned (look at attacks on John Kerry and, for a long time, anybody who did not support the war in Iraq) but that it is assumed and therefore can be propped up by featherweight arguments such as voting for an anti-flag burning amendment and, essentially, because I said so. 

Black people, however, are assumed not to be patriotic until we prove otherwise.  As if the fact that we built this country with hundreds of years of slave labor and then fought (and still fight) for full inclusion in the rights and privileges of this democracy is not enough.

So the next time you hear Hillary Clinton or anyone in the media mention how very important it is that we continue to talk about any silly patriotism related  so-called character issues in order to properly "vet" Obama, recognize it for what it is -  racist, unpatriotic tripe.

Comments

[Sleeping Mommy]

Thank you. That patriotism/flag pin crap irritates the hell out of me and you just articulated why far better than I ever could.

[Peggy]

Yes, could not believe the flap over the flag pin. The whole first hour of the debate was such a waste of valuable time.

A comic strip via "Town Called Dobson" on what to do with yer flag pin. Ha!

http://www.towncalleddobson.com/?paged=4

[Viv]

Though I completely agree with the absurdity of the whole flag lapel pin controversy and with your contention that Hillary adapts a different persona for every city she visits (something, by the way, that just about every political candidate does, and hardly surprising at that), I don't follow your logic that the whole issue is overblown as a result of a racial stereotype. Is there really a stereotype that blacks are not patriotic? I've never encountered this.

In the early days of Obama's campaign, the media representatives and political pundits present at each debate were falling all over themselves not to play hardball with Obama on any of the issues, all the while nailing Hilary to the wall. As I recall, Chris Mathews from Hardball was especially vitriolic in his attacks. The coverage became so one-sided that SNL ran a skit depicting the disparity by showing debate moderators offering Obama pillows and glasses of water and ignoring Hilary completely. It's possible that now, having recognized how badly they botched the initial coverage, they are over-doing it by nailing Obama on every ridiculous criticism that comes to light, and that argument seems far more likely to me than your "people don't think blacks are patriotic" contention.

[Suebob]

Oh come on Maria. If he really loved this country, would he have the middle name "Hussein"?

;-P

[Maria Niles]

@ Sleeping Mommy - thanks so much for commenting!

@ Peggy - great comic, thanks for the link!

[Maria Niles]

Viv,

Thanks for your comments. And, indeed, Hillary is not alone in changing personas up state to state (I just think her ever growing collection of home states is amusing). I guarantee Barack isn't bowling or feeding calves back in Hyde Park.

My point on the flag pin issue isn't that it's blown up now or is overblown because Obama is black. But beyond it being a non-issue in the first place, rather why is Obama the only one questioned about it? Clinton doesn't wear a flag pin and nobody asks her why not or questions her patriotism. There have been emails circulating for months questioning Obama's patriotism in conjunction with the claim that he's actually a Muslim terrorist. And beyond the pin, when being asked about Rev. Wright, having the question framed as "is he as patriotic as you are?"

So there have been questions about Obama's patriotism and Obama's patriotism alone for just about the entire campaign. SNL skits not withstanding, it's not about the media finally treating him as the front runner.

I will try to round up some historical examples to back up my assertion that blacks are generally not accorded an assumption of patriotism. Or, better yet, I'll see if I can get Professor Kim Pearson to guest post because she's the best writer I know on issues such as that.

[Maria Niles]

Suebob - I think he got the middle name at age 4 as part of the madrassa brainwashing process when they turned him into a Manchurian candidate. ;)

[cynematic]

Maria, I totally get you on the whole "American=/ black" thing, because if you're 5th generation Asian American, someone is gonna ask you "how learned to speak English so well."

The flag pin issue is yet another way "white" can implicitly (and inaccurately) mean "American."

[Maria Niles]

Thanks for your comment, cynematic. Absolutely!

I look at things through a black/white prism because of who I am but it's true in a lot of ways for any person of color. I'll just flip your equation and say that the problem is that American = white. So if you're Asian you get that kind of nonsensical comment. If you're Latino you get an assumption that you're an immigrant and possibly not a citizen. If you're from the Middle East then you have to put a flag decal on your car so you don't get stopped at gunpoint (see the Daily Kos post linked in the 4/19 daily post above).

[Miss Britt]

I kept looking at her polyester suit thinking "am I missing it? Is she wearing a flag pin that is just invisible to me?!?!"

[Maria Niles]

From the looks of that picture, I think she's joining you in that search for the missing pin. Maybe Chelsea had it?

Thanks for commenting, Miss Britt! :)