This Is the Obama We Were Expecting

Today in Iowa, ABC News out of Cedar Rapids asked Sen. Barack Obama why he wasn’t wearing an American flag lapel pin. I don’t gush about presidential candidates here, but I do think this answer shows a glimmer of the candidate that people like me were expecting Obama to be. Here’s how ABC News characterizes the interview:

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, “My patriotism speaks for itself.”

But Obama didn’t say that.

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

“You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Obama said. “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,” he said, “I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.”