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National Anthem Rules (what every six year old knows)

May 13, 2008

I have been ignoring most of the crazy stuff Obama says these days, but I could resist posting his explaination of why he won’t put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem:

“My grandfather taught me how to say the Pledge of Allegiance when I was 2,” Obama said, his annoyance obvious. “During the Pledge of Allegiance you put your hand over your heart. During the national anthem you sing.”

Ethan, my six year old, has become my focus group for things like this so I asked him, “What should you do when you hear the national anthem?”  Ethan said, “What is the national anthem?”  I laughed and began singing (ug, the range is crazy - an octave and a half! ).  He immediately got it and put his hand over his heart.  Even my six year old, who after hearing a few notes, knows to put his hand over his heart.

For those of you, like Obama, who are unaware:

United States Code, 36 USC Sec. 301 says that during the playing of The Star Spangled Banner (United States National Anthem) when the flag is displayed, everyone except those in uniform should stand at attention while facing the flag and have their right hand over their heart. Individuals in attendance that aren’t in uniform should remove anything they are wearing on their head with their right hand and hold it at their left shoulder, with their hand held over their heart. Individuals in uniform should show the military salute during the first note of the anthem and stay in this position until the last note. If the flag is not displayed, people in attendance should face the music and respond as if the flag were present.

The real question for Obama is, “What is the deal? Why do you have a problem with the pledge? Why do you have a problem with the national anthem?  Why do you have a problem with the flag?”  When you ask Obama about these sorts of things he simply explains, “This is the classic dirty trick of the campaign.”  That isn’t an answer.  You are making a statement when you don’t put your hand over your heart, what is the statement?

Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Blog, Politics 

Comments

14 Responses to “National Anthem Rules (what every six year old knows)”

  1. Bradley Joyce Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 10:37 am

    stumble, digg, buzz, and everything else!! People need to know the truth about Obama

  2. Jeremy Pepper Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 10:40 am

    Maybe he’s never been to a baseball game?

  3. Thor Muller Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 10:58 am

    I don’t get why you think Senator Obama has “a problem” with the flag, the pledge or the anthem. There is plenty of video showing that Obama generally does put his hand on his heart when he sings the anthem. To obsess over things like this brings to mind Oscar Wilde’s quote: “Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.”

    One thing is undeniable at this point: Obama has been the victim of a methodical smear campaign that mischaracterized about the circumstances of that photo: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/anthem.asp

    The Snopes article also addresses the (arguable) outdatedness of that USCode you cite.

  4. David Cohen Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    Why not just call them all unamerican for turning their backs on the flag. what a dilemma if there are two. the law is not specific enough. what should a good american do in the case of two flags? lol. how stupid this whole thing is. anybody who would actually call any of these well-intentioned people anti-american (i note that thankfully, you didn’t, but others have for this reason) is just being silly.

  5. Alexander Muse Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    I can’t imagine that Obama is unAmerican, but what is the deal? Why won’t he put it to bed? I know that since this has been uncovered Obama has started putting his hand over his heart for the national anthem so obviously someone else got to him and said, “Are you kidding? You are going screw up your chances at the presidency by making a non-verbal statement like not putting your hand over your heart?”

    Obama will likely be our next president. If anyone should be positive about this country and opportunities it provides its citizens it should be Obama. No one likes everything our country does. We all have complaints, but man Obama is about to be in the position to fix any number of injustices and problems associated with this country. No need for acts of civil obedience.

  6. John Whiteside Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    Good grief. Nothing that’s come out of Obama’s mouth is as “crazy” as your characterization of anything he’s done as “civil disobedience.”

  7. Scott Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    Alex- the problem is that there is NO WAY to put an issue like this to bed. certain members of media and blogosphere and whatnot will continue to recycle it over and over again (i refer you to the debate over whether he is Christian or not as an example). Some issues won’t go away no matter what. The way they should go away is that intelligent people should realize that this is so much smoke and look past it. Dubya holds his hand over his heart every time. That didn’t make me feel much better when we found out there weren’t any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Or that we lost our rights to habeus corpus. So what point is Dubya making when he does this?

    In both cases, the answer is it just isn’t relevant.

  8. Alexander Muse Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 8:34 am

    FYI - Obama was wearing a flag pin today…

  9. a Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 8:54 am

    Much ado about nothing. Alex, are you wearing a flag pin right now? No? Then you must hate America ;- )
    Dude, stop listening to Limbaugh and watching Fox. That stuff will rot your political mind. Don’t you have a company to run?

  10. John Whiteside Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    By the way, i’d love to hear what a random sample of six year olds know about the rules regarding the pledge and the national anthem. Given how many adults can’t name their members of Congress or a Supreme Court Justice or identify what Dick Cheney’s job is, I’m guessing “what every six year old knows” probably won’t be too accurate.

  11. Alexander Muse Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

    Ethan had a play date today and I asked his buddy what you should do during the national anthem and he put his hand over his heart. He couldn’t quote the section of the US civil code that outlines the rules…. :)

  12. Schpenke Says:
    May 18th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    Not putting your hand over your heart is an act of civil disobedience? By those draconian standards the six-year old who couldn’t quote the corresponding civil code is a clearly a communist.

    Two Minutes Hate will begin shortly, citizen.

  13. Karen Tewart Says:
    July 2nd, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Obama won’t put his hand over his heart because he is a Muslim.
    Barack Hussein Obama. Hussein is an honored Muslim name. For him, there
    is but one God and his name is Allah. Not the God under whose guidance nd
    protection the USA was founded. We are one nation under God. Obama is
    under Allah. He can no sooner put his hand over his heart when our Anthem
    plays than a Christian would bow their head for afternoon prayers at Mecca.
    His beliefs are at odds with the basic tenets upon which our country
    was founded.
    He is just hoping no one will notice until he is elected.

  14. KKevis Says:
    July 6th, 2008 at 11:04 pm

    A Muslim? Are you kidding? How many times has he said that he is a Christian? Perhaps he was pretending for the 20 years he attended a Christian church, had a Christian wedding, baptized his children…I doubt there has been a serious Muslim conspiracy to put him in office for the last 20 years.

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