He has officially introduced nuance into the 2008 campaign.

One of the things that doomed John Kerry’s bid for the White House, other than a successful war in Iraq, was his comment “I voted for it, before I voted against” regarding funding. Although there was a reasonable explanation for what he said he made the mistake of saying something that required explaining. The rest is History.

So now Barack Obama has made the mistake of acknowledging that he does not wear the “Lou Dobbs Special,” an American flag pin on his lapel.

Now the same hillbillies that scream at people at sporting events to take off their hats (or in one pathetic case I was present at a sports bar about a year or so ago where a fight almost broke out because one man would not take his hat off for the televised national anthem) are probably screaming: “As if it wasn’t bad enough… now he don’t support the flag or the troops.”

Barack offered an explanation – that many of the public figures wearing an American Flag pin are not doing what troops and America actually need and are hiding behind it as a show of patriotism, without any real sacrifice.

Too many words Barack!!!

This reminds me of the Bill Hicks routine where he spoke of people concerned that they HAD to burn their flag because it was upheld by the Supreme Court as constitutionally protected free speech. Obama is fine with people wearing the pin, but he has observed enough political hypocrisy that he wants his actions to speak louder than his lapel.

Sadly, if he was electable I think this is the kind of insignificant, issue that will bury Obama’s chances.