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I am one of those whiny elitists who is sick to death of hearing about whether Barack Obama is wearing a flag pin in his lapel today, and what bearing this might have on his patriotism.
The straw that broke the camel's back for me was last month's ABC Democratic candidates' debate, in which moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos devoted the entire first half of the debate to insubstantial issues, prominent among them the manufactured controversy over Obama's flag pin or lack thereof.
I left that debate depressingly resigned to the fact that only in America could candidates for the Presidency - a post that involves crucial decisions of war and peace, health care, education and fiscal policy, etc... etc... - have their suitability for office judged on the basis of something as superficial as whether or not they wear a lapel pin.
But I was wrong.
Last night, I was surfing through a Hamas-affiliated Web forum (as one does when one blogs on Israel-Palestine), when I was comforted and at the same time appalled to learn it's not just us. Obviously, on a Hamas forum it's not unexpected to see PA/Fatah leaders pilloried as "traitors to the cause", but I was little surprised to learn that for some Hamas supporters the ultimate proof of Mahmoud Abbas' treachery is ......
... he doesn't wear a flag pin in his lapel!
Isn't that funny?
So I guess it's not just Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos who think the key test of Presidential material is whether Obama wears a flag pin. There's actually someone else in the world who thinks just like them. And it's Hamas! How about that.
