While thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial this past weekend to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, an American flag was waved with President Obama’s image in place of the 50 stars.
Photos of the “Obama flag” were included in the galleries of numerous prominent web sites such as Politico and USA Today.
But was the Obama flag just another news photo of the event?
Here was the caption from USA Today’s photo gallery:
A woman holds a flag depicting US President Barack Obama at the March on Washington rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
That’s all folks, just a woman holding our nation’s flag depicting our current president. Let’s move on to the next photo…
If this were the Daily Show I would be looking at you with that mouth-wide-open stunned daze that Jon Stewart has mastered.
Instead, I will scream in large letters; WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? And now imagine me ripping my hair out because not only was Obama’s face replacing the 50 stars truly despicable, but worse, was the fact that the mainstream media glossed over this image like it was just another event photo.
However, it was a different story on Twitter and in the “right-wing blogosphere.”
Here was an overview of comments culled from various sites and tweets representing that side of the political spectrum.
“The creepy cult of personality that surrounds President Obama is alive and well.”
“These marchers have no idea how offensive (on so many levels) this flag is.”
“Reminiscent of Sadaam Hussein, Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Mussolini…..”
“Desecration….”
“Creepy reminder of totalitarians past.”
“The image makes me nauseous. And I mean sick to my stomach.”
“Shades of Hitler.”
“American nightmare! It’s against everything America stands for.”
“I guess the left doesn’t understand how offensive this is to someone who has served under the American flag.”
“State worship, meet hero worship.”
NOW can you feel the outrage?
What I found most troubling was that this flag was waved in front of the memorial of the president who waged a brutal Civil War to keep the Union together and now Obama’s image takes precedence over ALL the states of the Union that Lincoln fought so hard to preserve.
Today our flag is still sacrosanct to most Americans who love this nation. It especially calls to mind those who have fought and died to keep it flying, and those currently in harm’s way.
Nowhere in Washington is the love of flag and country more pronounced than at the Iwo Jima Memorial. The statue is based on a 1945 photo when Marines raised the flag during that horrific Pacific island battle in World War II.
This iconic memorial is less than a mile from where thousands gathered this past weekend for the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
But the flag flying at the Iwo Jima Memorial and the “ObamaNation” flag are separated by a steep decline in national respect. The Iwo Jima flag is the symbol of national pride, the values we hold dear, and a reminder that freedom is not free. That flag will outlast any one president but the “ObamaNation” flag, as one commenter penned, amounts to ”Desecration.”
Yes, that word sums up my feelings and those of many others. But why not every American?
Shouldn’t President Obama’s image on our flag be considered extremely distasteful regardless of personal political persuasion? But not just because it is Obama’s face — the face of ANY president in our entire history replacing the 50 stars should elicit the same negative response.
So now it’s time to circle back to my original question, “Where is the outrage?”
Why isn’t the image of Obama’s face on our flag at the March on Washington striking an emotional chord in the mainstream media?
That question needs to be asked… and answered.
Furthermore, President Obama should ask his followers to destroy this demeaning “flag” that smacks of idolatry, insults our military, desecrates our real flag, and is clearly un-American.
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