I think the thing with Obama and the pin is less that he doesn't always wear a pin and that he launched into some sort of tortured defense where he conciously doesn't wear a pin to make "a statement."

One thing I've noticed about a lot of liberals I've encountered is that they don't want any "questioning [their] patriotism" but, at the same time, they don't fly the flag (some of the goofier ones even fly UN flags or "PACE" flags) and accuse anyone who flies, or wears, the flag of being "jingoistic" or some such thing. Instead they talk about how "true patriotism" consists of, in essence, constantly running down the country, never acknowledging the good and endlessly harping on the bad.

There's even a thread here about it and whether liberals hate America.

So, when Obama, the great half-white hope of the far left, starts in with that whole argument, it sounds suspiciously like the members of the "blame America first" crowd who, really, AREN'T that patriotic.