Where Were You When Pingate Struck?

Ah, what a wonderful time it is. A Presidential Election is roughly one year away and candidates are campaigning ferociously for their party's nomination. While candidates were treading lightly only a few months back, the campaign has now become a bare knuckle slugfest. Recently, second place Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, came under intense scrutiny for statements he made in regards to the wearing of American flag pins. To avoid taking the comments out of context like many of the major media networks managed to do, here is both the question and the response:

QUESTION: "One last quick question, and this is just kind of a lighter note, you don't have an American flag pin on, is this a fashion statement? Those have been on politicians since September 12, 2001?"

OBAMA: "You know, 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, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest, 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."

It was almost comical watching all of the network news anchors berate Obama for his statements. Going as far to say his comments were disrespectful to US troops in Iraq and yes, on par with Bill Clinton's infamous phrase, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Now I say 'almost comical' because there was something extremely aggravating about the whole ordeal. In fact, every time I thought about it my mind became flooded with rage.

Here are "credible" news channels devoting much of their morning coverage to a statement that was taken completely out of context. The quote that was being recycled between networks was, "I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest, instead I'm gonna try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great." While that still wasn't bad, with the question removed in addition to the rest of the statement, I can see how ignorant swine with a motive could misconstrue Obama's words.

However, what I can't understand is how the network's producers thought it was a good idea to focus all of their efforts on calling Obama an unpatriotic troop hater. And while that wasn't the exact term used, it was certainly implied-especially by those pigheaded clowns over at Fox and Friends. Surely, there has to be issues that matter, which could have been discussed instead. But no, Obama not wearing a tiny American flag pin on his lapel is of the utmost importance. My brains!!

I used to be a fan of network news, even though I was well aware that the channels were biased. Fox being the conservative outlet while CNN was the liberal network of choice. Nevertheless, a horrid metamorphosis has taken place, turning what should be a civil service into nothing more than glorified gossip. Perez Hilton is almost as legitimate as these channels, which use sensationalized nonsense to simply entertain rather than inform the viewer. Ah, what a wonderful time, indeed.

Since Pingate has certainly hurt Obama's public image, I do have a solution to his problem. Instead of wearing the regular blue or black suit during his next speech, Obama should dress himself in an American flag suit, similar to the kind Uncle Sam is famous for. Yes, that will guarantee him the Presidency. After all, the news channels seem to understand that the average American is easily swayed by theatrics and phony patriotism. It's about time that Obama start playing the game. Uncle Sam up, Barack-for your own good.