Just last week, I wrote at National Review that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should sit alongside 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick during his protest against the National Anthem: “he’s just speaking a leftist truth that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama won’t speak: To them, the American story isn’t one of restoration of founding principles and allegiance to eternal truths, but an ever-changing moral rubric in which the only constant is the evil of the past.”
Then, last week, Hillary’s vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine essentially defended Kaepernick: “I wouldn’t presume to tell him what to do…I mean, I’d do it differently.” And now, President Obama has rushed to the sacked quarterback’s defense: “He’s following his constitutional right to make a statement,” Obama said. “I think there’s a long history of sports figures doing so.” He then continued:
I don’t doubt his sincerity. I think he cares about some real, legitimate issues that have to be talked about. And if nothing else, he’s generated some conversation around some topics that need to be talked about it… I don’t doubt his sincerity. I think he cares about some real, legitimate issues that have to be talked about. And if nothing else, he’s generated some conversation around some topics that need to be talked about it… I think there’s a lot of ways you can do it. As a general matter when it comes to the flag and the national anthem and the meaning that it holds for our men and women in uniform and those who fought for us, that is a tough thing for them to get past, to then hear what his deeper concerns are…Maybe some of his critics will start seeing he has a point around certain concerns around justice and equality.
First off, nobody has doubted that Kaepernick has a right to do what he’s been doing. Of course he does. He also has a right to run around screaming the n-word (which he has done) while waving a burning cross (which he has not), but that doesn’t make such activity wise or morally decent. We have every right to call him out for his stupidity and the evil of his perspective.
Second, Obama standing up for First Amendment rights is rather rich. You know who else had First Amendment rights? The YouTube filmmaker he essentially imprisoned over the murders in Benghazi that had nothing to do with a YouTube film; Dinesh D’Souza, over a minor violation of idiotic election law; the Associated Press, which found itself on the wrong end of surveillance by the Obama administration; conservative 501(c)3 organizations, which were blocked by Obama’s IRS from receiving charitable status; religious organizations, which find themselves on the wrong end of Obama’s DOJ for having the temerity to act in accordance with their religious beliefs. Love for the First Amendment didn’t block Obama from going to the United Nations and stating that the future does not belong to those who blaspheme the prophet of Islam. No, Obama doesn’t get to lecture anyone on the First Amendment.
Third, Obama continues to mythmake about the evils of the American police. That mythmaking provides fodder for the misguided ire of fools like Kaepernick – funnily, Obama had no comment about Kaepernick’s cops-as-pigs socks. Obama agrees with Kaepernick that the cops are racists targeting black men. That lie will get more cops and more black men killed.
Finally, Obama clearly doesn’t mind sitting for the National Anthem. He just thinks it’s impractical because it alienates soldiers and their families, not because there’s anything wrong with identifying the flag with all the worst aspects of American life and history. If Obama had any testicular fortitude, he’d sit down right alongside Kaepernick. Instead, he ‘ll just play professor while justifying Kaepernick’s activity.
So yes, Obama and Kaepernick hold the same perspective on the flag, on the police, on America. So does the broader American left. Americans don’t understand that, for the most part, because Democrats hide behind the flag in order to promote their anti-America vision. But in their hearts, they’d rather kneel with Kaepernick than stand with the country.