# Obama Vs US flag lapel pin **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080 "2012-02-26T20:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/1 "2012-02-26T20:45:25Z")
I periodically receive an email containing “facts” about President Obama. One of the “facts” in the most recent email is that Obama refuses to wear a lapel pin depicting the US flag for reasons that seem to me to be far-fetched. Snopes de-bunked every claim except the lapel pin; if it is there, i missed it. Can anyone tell me if he does or does not wear such a pin? I’d appreciate an appropriate link if one is available. (I love to toss these emails back to the sender) ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/2 "2012-02-26T20:50:14Z")
[Google image search for “Obama lapel”](https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTRhvbsuO-amBVlvwMdIfhJG3a6OeDq09QhQ_J5XCVamubYAHTL) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/3 "2012-02-26T20:53:11Z")
I’m really not sure how often he wears a pin, but he has one in the [official portrait](http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/new_official_portrait_released/) that is found in Federal buildings and such. It may be a temporary picture, but I see he’s wearing a pin on the front page of the White House official website: [link.](http://www.whitehouse.gov/) In fact, if you click on over to the photo galleries, and then to the “photos of the day” for each month, he seems to be wearing a pin in just about every photo where his lapel is visible. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/4 "2012-02-26T20:55:14Z")
Oh, snore. > [@](#): > > In case you missed it, Barack Obama’s American flag lapel pin is back. How long it will stay on is anyone’s guess. > > This week, after eschewing the patriotic symbol for quite some time, Obama started wearing the pin to selected events. On Tuesday, he was sans pin on the Senate floor, but then later donned it while speaking to working-class voters in Missouri during the evening. “I haven’t been making such a big deal about it. Others have. Sometimes I wear it, sometimes I don’t,” Obama said. “We were talking with a group of veterans yesterday. Over the last several weeks people have been handing me flag pins. I thought it was appropriate.” Asked if he will continue to wear the pin, Obama said, “If it ends up being on another suit, I might leave it one day, but it’s something that I’ve done before and I’ll certainly wear it again.” > > – snip – > > **The pin saga started on October 3, 2007** when a local ABC reporter asked Obama why he didn’t wear one. Instead of the standard Beltway refrain, “My patriotism speaks for itself,” Obama launched into a long explanation of his decision-making process: “The truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security,” Obama said in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest. Instead I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe what will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.” (Bolding and size change mine.) [Time Magazine, 14 May 2008](http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1779544,00.html). ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/5 "2012-02-26T21:25:02Z")
He doesn’t wear one every day, but he certainly does wear one frequently. People get hung up on the dumbest things. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/6 "2012-02-26T21:38:49Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > He doesn’t wear one every day, but… when he does, it’s Old Glory. ‘Stay patriotic, my friends.’ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/7 "2012-02-26T21:52:17Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m really not sure how often he wears a pin, but he has one in the [official portrait](http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/new_official_portrait_released/) that is found in Federal buildings and such. > > It may be a temporary picture, but I see he’s wearing a pin on the front page of the White House official website: [link.](http://www.whitehouse.gov/) In fact, if you click on over to the photo galleries, and then to the “photos of the day” for each month, he seems to be wearing a pin in just about every photo where his lapel is visible. Look close, there’s _NO GOLD FRINGE!!!_ :eek::eek::eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/8 "2012-02-26T21:57:45Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Look close, there’s _NO GOLD FRINGE!!!_ :eek::eek::eek: > > 😃 “That’s not a gold fringe; it’s Monica Lewinsky!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/9 "2012-02-26T23:31:36Z")
Thanks for the replies; i was not aware of the great lapel pin controversy. I don’t get out much. The gist of the email is that he never wears one because he is committed to a one world government and/or because other countries view it as confrontational; not everyone loves us and when he visits such a country his lack of the damn pin shows that he has no courage: coward. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/10 "2012-02-27T01:36:32Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Thanks for the replies; i was not aware of the great lapel pin controversy. I don’t get out much. You need to block people who send you these emails. My mom sends them to me to debunk. She’s pretty vigilant about this. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/11 "2012-02-27T01:41:54Z")
Wasn’t it during the ‘terror’ of the French Revolution that you could get beheaded if you didn’t wear the colors? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/12 "2012-02-27T01:42:13Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > You need to block people who send you these emails. My mom sends them to me to debunk. She’s pretty vigilant about this. And block them NFL Offensive-Tackle style, by knocking them flat on their asses running straight at them full speed. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/13 "2012-02-27T01:45:32Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > The gist of the email is that he never wears one because he is committed to a one world government and/or because other countries view it as confrontational; not everyone loves us and when he visits such a country his lack of the damn pin shows that he has no courage: coward. Here’s a picture of Obama at last year’s G8 Summit. [Wearing a pin](http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/macro/g8-summit-euro-debt-crisis). Here’s Obama with Angela Merkel. Look carefully and [you’ll see the pin](http://droppants.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/obama_merkel.jpg). Obama in Moscow with Vladimir Putin. [Still rockin’ the pin.](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24621.html) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/14 "2012-02-27T02:04:43Z")
That is one telling thing about all these BS e-mail campaigns: they keep recycling crap from the past over and over as if it were something just brought to the public attention. I would wear a pin of the Great Seal once in a while just to see if they notice. And every so often one of the \*Reverse \*of the Great Seal, with the pyramid and the Eye of God, just to freak them out. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/15 "2012-02-27T07:19:35Z")
Whenever this stupid story gets trotted out, I always think about an article I read about a guy visiting North Korea. He said that everybody goes around wearing patriotic lapel pins, and at one point asked a guide what would happen if he didn’t wear his. The guide simply couldn’t imagine someone forgetting, or choosing not to wear their lapel pins. Can’t find that article, but when I Google North Korea and lapel pins I get several hits, such as [this article from 2002](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/1994008.stm): > [@](#): > > Kim Jong-il is now in charge. He smiles from billboards, and **from the lapel pins that every North Korean wears.** He drops into factories, farms and offices to give what is called on the spot guidance. His subjects burst into applause and grateful tears. (bolding mine) ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/16 "2012-02-27T14:50:44Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Thanks for the replies; i was not aware of the great lapel pin controversy. I don’t get out much. > The gist of the email is that he never wears one because he is committed to a one world government and/or because other countries view it as confrontational; not everyone loves us and when he visits such a country his lack of the damn pin shows that he has no courage: coward. [he’s wearing one during his visit to Ireland last year, while _gasp_ drinking a pint of Guinness](http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/features/article_1641001.php/Ireland-Obama-Visit-Pictures) ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/17 "2012-02-27T15:05:12Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > [he’s wearing one during his visit to Ireland last year, while _gasp_ drinking a pint of Guinness](http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/features/article_1641001.php/Ireland-Obama-Visit-Pictures) I guess he’s really a secret Irishman, then. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/18 "2012-02-27T15:20:39Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > I guess he’s really a secret Irishman, then. O’Bama ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/19 "2012-02-27T16:46:48Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > O’Bama Black Irish. ---
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080/20 "2012-02-27T17:38:37Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Thanks for the replies; i was not aware of the great lapel pin controversy. I don’t get out much. > The gist of the email is that he never wears one because he is committed to a one world government and/or because other countries view it as confrontational; not everyone loves us and when he visits such a country his lack of the damn pin shows that he has no courage: coward. It caused a bit of a stir on the campaign trail back in 2007. For a while Obama did not wear one because he felt it was facile to judge someone’s patriotism on whether they stuck a little flag on their suit. However once his opponents starting kicking up more of a fuss about it he caved and began wearing one; I think he continued to wear one throughout the rest of the 2008 campaign, although I can’t remember for certain. Nowadays he wears it off and on. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-us-flag-lapel-pin/614080.md?page=2)