Columnist - Louis R. Avallone

It’s funny how sometimes an idea dawns on you. I was watching Michelle

Obama’s speech last week, along with millions of other Americans who must have all been shaking their heads with bewilderment. You see, Ms. Obama admitted that, “for the first time in my adult lifetime I’m proud of my country.”

Although one may not always agree with another’s politics, we should all be fair minded enough to consider that folks can and sometimes do misspeak. After all, when she delivered the same speech, later the same day, she said instead, “for the first time in my adult lifetime I’m really proud of my country.”

A misstatement can and should be excused. But, in the context of her husband’s refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin and a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the singing of the national anthem, and his advertisement to terrorists around the world that, should he be elected President, the United States will begin retreating from Iraq soon thereafter, one wonders seriously if there was any “misstatement” at all by Ms. Obama.

It is becoming more clear now about what choices we will have in November.

And Barack, in speech after speech, including at the 2004 National Democratic Convention, continues to proclaim that there is there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there’s the United States of America.” He was and is correct about that.

But there are two (2) Americas that he didn’t mention. One is the America that is proud of our country’s history and its honorable service to the human spirit, defending liberty when others had not the courage to defend themselves, and a country that has sacrificed, continues to sacrifice, its sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, to protect millions of souls who will never know them by name. This is my America and I am proud to be an American.

The other America appears to be one that apologizes for all of the injustices throughout the world by blaming America first. For example, those who blame America for causing global warming because of America’s wasteful and relentless consumption of fossil fuels; or blaming America for provoking terrorist attacks on American soil, instead of deterring them, because of our military strength and so-called “imperialism”; or blaming America for enticing workers to enter this country illegally because the entrepreneurial spirit of Americans has created the largest economy in the world.

You see, Ms. Obama, and her husband, are leading a movement of Americans that blames America first. And so, Ms. Obama, says, for the first time in her adult life, she is proud of America. But how about the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in 1945? Or Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954? Rosa Parks’ civil disobedience in 1955? What about the Civil Rights Act of 1968? Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in 1969? The tearing down of the Berlin wall in 1989? What about those first responders, rushing into the World Trade Center towers on 9/11, sacrificing their own lives in their duty to serve others? As a Princeton graduate and Harvardeducated lawyer, Ms. Obama, what does it take for you to be proud of America?

To add insult to injury, Barrack says he doesn’t wear an American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for “true patriotism” since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

You know, that simply does not make any sense. Why? Well, if you go to his official campaign website, you can purchase Obama emblazoned shirts, hats, stickers, sweatshirts, headbands, and…you guessed it, lapel pins.

Following Barack’s rationale for him not wearing an American flag lapel pin, would wearing an Obama 2008 lapel pin simply be a substitute for “true support” of his candidacy?

And so it just dawned on me: He is encouraging supporters to purchase “stuff”, with his name and campaign rhetoric, as a show of support for his candidacy.

This seems hypocritical, doesn’t it? Why can’t he have the common decency and respect to show his support, by wearing a simple American flag lapel pin, for his country and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that he (and Ms. Obama) may continue to enjoy our American way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

I think Plato had it right, over a couple of thousand years ago: “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” Mr. Obama, I suppose you have to say something, but I’ve heard enough.

Louis R. Avallone is a Louisiana native, attorney and small business employer in the construction industry from Shreveport. He can be contacted at louisavallone@mac.com