In last night's ABC Debacle of Brotherly Love, Obama was asked by an unemployed PA viewer why he refused to wear a flag pin:
NASH MCCABE, VOTER: Senator Obama, I have a question, and I want to know if you believe in the American flag. I am not questioning your patriotism, but all our servicemen, policemen and EMS wear the flag. I want to know why you don't.
More below...
Obama's response was:
Well, look, I revere the American flag. And I would not be running for president if I did not revere this country.
This is -- I would not be standing here if it wasn't for this country. And I've said this -- again, there's no other country in which my story is even possible. Somebody who was born to a teenage mom, raised by a single mother and grandparents from small towns in Kansas, you know, who was able to get an education and rise to the point where I can run for the highest office in the land, I could not help but love this country for all that it's given me.
And so, what I've tried to do is to show my patriotism by how I treat veterans when I'm working in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee; by making sure that I'm speaking forcefully about how we need to bring this war in Iraq to a close, because I think it is not serving our national security well and it's not serving our military families and our troops well; talking about how we need to restore a sense of economic fairness to this country, because that's what this country has always been about, is providing upward mobility and ladders to opportunity for all Americans.
After winning the debate, according to people polls:
ABC: Who won the Democratic debate?
Sen. Barack Obama: 35,272
Sen. Hillary Clinton: 13,140
It was a tie: 4,298
Total Vote: 52,710
NBC:
Who won the debate? * 70156 responses
Hillary Clinton won: 28%
Barack Obama won: 54%
Neither won: 18%
Did the debate help you decide whom to support? * 68658 responses
Yes, my mind's made up: 48%
No, I still can't decide: 4.3%
It made me lean toward Obama: 28%
It made me lean toward Clinton: 11%
It made me want to look elsewhere: 7.9%
Will Clinton and Obama combine forces to create a "dream team"? * 69559 responses
Yes, Clinton-Obama:9.4%
Yes, Obama-Clinton: 7.4%
No, there's no way either would accept the other as a running mate: 83%
CBS: Who won the Democratic debate in Philadelphia Wednesday night?
Hillary Clinton: 25.57%
Barack Obama: 74.43%
Newsday
Which of the Democrats won the Philadelphia debate?
Barack Obama (339 responses): 59.0%
Hillary Clinton (99 responses): 17.2%
Clinton, but it probably won't help her catch Obama (48 responses): 8.3%
Neither candidate stepped forward. (68 responses): 11.8%
Both candidates were impressive. (21 responses): 3.7%
o 575 total responses (Results not scientific)
...yet losing according to the bobbleheads, Obama has reconsidered his position on wearing a little symbol that means more to unemployed voters in Pennsylvania and the rest of America than getting jobs, keeping their houses, having affordable healthcare, keeping Social Security, ending the war in Iraq, improving the education system, sending their children to college, rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure, passing the G.I. bill, or the problems of outsourcing our industries to foreign countries, the falling U.S. dollar, the price of gasoline, soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, wounded soldiers receiving the care they need, and so on.