Obama tells why he doesn’t wear flag pin

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa — In this patriotically named town, it seemed like as good a place as any for Sen. Barack Obama to explain why he does not wear an American flag pin on his suit lapel as some politicians do.

It was a topic the Illinois Democrat and presidential candidate was forced to address Thursday, following an answer he had given the day before to a television station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Obama told KCRG that he wore such a pin shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but later dropped the practice.

“I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest,” he said, according to a transcript provided by his campaign. “Instead, I’m gonna’ try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.”

But after the issue made national news Thursday, he was forced to address the topic again. His campaign, sensing the topic was dominating campaign trail news, had earlier made clear he had not worn such a pin for years.

“I’m less concerned about what you are wearing on your lapel than what’s in your heart,” he said under a county fairgrounds pavilion here, a giant American flag draped behind him.

“You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those ones who served.”

He suggested some politicians who wear such pins act in disingenuous ways.

“After a while, you know, you start noticing people wearing a lapel pin, but not acting very patriotic, not voting to provide veterans with the resources that they need,” he said.

Earlier, his campaign had issued a statement that said patriotism “isn’t what you wear on your lapel. It’s what you carry in your heart. I don’t need a pin to certify my love for this country.”

Republican politicians often wear flag pins. But Thursday the other two top Democratic candidates steered clear of the topic.

A spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton, of New York, declined to comment on whether she regularly wears such a pin, although she has worn one in the past.

A spokesman for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said he wears an Outward Bound pin from his late son, Wade, who died a decade ago.