Obama has new flag frenzy

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By Jennifer Harper

Oh, say - can you see? Look. It's President Obama, and he's surrounded by American flags.

They're on the dais in star-spangled glory. They're at the town-hall meeting and the news conference, in bold folds of red, white and blue. The White House has rediscovered - or possibly reinvented - the patriotic cachet of Old Glory as a perfect frame for the new president.

That's the same president who once would not wear an American flag pin. Things have changed.

"The biggest factor is that Barack Obama is now the president," said Jack Glaser, a social psychologist with the University of California at Berkeley.

"He's around more flags now. They're behind him or on the podium. That's the reality. He's not running around on the campaign trail.

"Now that he's president, Mr. Obama most likely knows he's an American symbol. So he wears an American flag pin. He appears before American flags. That's part of the job."

Mr. Glaser, who has plumbed the mysteries of public patriotism in his studies, urged people to put the phenomenon into perspective.

"I caution people to be careful about their own perceptions and judging these situations," Mr. Glaser said.

"This does not have the same connotation as the shallow patriotism one might adopt during a political campaign."

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Obama's new flag frenzy

President Obama chose in 2007 to forgo a flag pin on his lapel, as president he now wears an American flag pin and appears in public before a phalanx of American flags, creating a compelling visual for newsprint or video.

American Legion spokesman Craig Roberts doesn't care why Mr. Obama flies the flag, just as long as it's there. "From our point of view, no matter what the motivation - image building, repairing an image - it doesn't matter. What's important is that the president of the United States appear with the American flag," he said.