Thursday, September 02, 2010

Why do they have problem with our national colors?

Do you remember the 1988 Democratic convention?  I do.  But the only part I remember, other than the fact that they let certain high ranking officials called "super delegates" vote, and that really mean speech by Anne Richards, is that when they built the podium they didn't make it red white an blue.  Instead, they chose muted shades of our national colors: Salmon, eggshell, and azure.

Now President Obama has changed the colors of the Presidential Seal on the oval office rug.  Though most presidents who've had the Seal on their rugs (Johnson was the first to put the Seal on the rug)  kept the colors the same as they always have been, Reagan was the first to change it.  In keeping with his vision of American greatness, and, perhaps related to the "Morning in America" theme he merged the seal with a blazing sun.  Pres. G.H.W. Bush went back to the traditional colors for the seal. Pres. Clinton kept the original colors. Pres. Geo.W. Bush kept the traditional seal but had rays of gold emanating from the seal, perhaps in remembering Pres. Reagan's rug.  But now, as is his right - it is his Seal, at least,  for a couple of more years -  President Obama has changed it to something the 1988 San Francisco Democrats would have loved.  New York Magazine calls it "a less optimistic rug".  I think they are right about that.  A lack of optimism might be part of the explanation, but I think there is more to it than that.  I think they dislike red white and blue, and other symbols of America because they dislike America. Our flag of red white and blue is the flag of the land where they live, but, I don't think, many of them would claim it is "the emblem of the land I love."

I really like my son Basil's Kindergarten teacher.  Each few days she teaches them a new song.  Basil comes home and says: "Daddy listen to my song my teacher taught me."  The songs so far have been "This Land is Your Land", "God Bless America", "Yankee Doodle", "My Country, 'tis of Thee", and "Your a Grand Old Flag".  Each time I've joined in the song with him and each time he was amazed that I already knew the words.  Yesterday, when he came home singing "Your a Grand Old Flag" I said, "Hey, I have something I want you to see".  And I played this video for him.  I wish president Obama and his followers would learn from it why the colors are red, white, and blue instead of salmon, eggshell, and azure.

1 comment:

GretchenJoanna said...

Unusual school your child attends! I think you are right about some people not loving their country. Such a modern (or would that be post-modern?) and unnatural attitude.