The flag of others' fathers

Jeff Jacoby:

WHEN HE ran for president eight years ago, John McCain was asked by an interviewer what he thought of the Confederate flag - a touchy topic in South Carolina, where at the time a debate was raging over whether the banner should continue to fly above the state capitol.

McCain answered from the heart: "As we all know, it's a symbol of racism and slavery." But his reply infuriated many South Carolina voters, and after the interview McCain's aides pushed him to undo the damage. So he let them draft a statement "clarifying" his position, and when reporters asked him about the flag in the days that followed, he made a show of pulling the paper from his pocket and reading his revised remarks. "As to how I view the flag," it began, "I understand both sides." It went on to acknowledge that some people may deem the flag "a symbol of slavery" - McCain's original, authentic opinion - but that "personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage."

By the fourth or fifth time the question came up, McCain later wrote in his 2002 memoir, "Worth the Fighting For" (coauthored with Mark Salter), he could have delivered the new response from memory.

"But I persisted with the theatrics of unfolding the paper and reading it as if I were making a hostage statement. I wanted to telegraph reporters that I really didn't mean to suggest I supported flying the flag, but political imperatives required a little evasiveness on my part. I wanted them to think me still an honest man, who simply had to cut a corner a little here and there so that I could go on to be an honest president. I think that made the offense worse. Acknowledging my dishonesty with a wink didn't make it less a lie. It compounded the offense. . . .

"I had not just been dishonest. I had been a coward, and I had severed my own interests from my country's. That was what made the lie unforgivable. All my heroes, fictional and real, would have been ashamed of me."

...

In the Globe's new poll, one finding caught my eye. When asked which candidate they thought "most trustworthy," 30 percent of likely Republican voters chose McCain - the highest tally of any candidate, Republican or Democrat. Among Republicans, only Romney, at 23 percent, comes anywhere near McCain's rating on trustworthiness. But the two men's numbers have been moving in opposite directions. The more voters get to know the candidates, the less they trust Romney and the more they trust McCain.

...

I am seeing much less trust of Romney lately.

I have always thought the flag issue was silly. I have a position on it that is sure to disappoint both sides of an issue more fraught with emotion and feelings than logic. The so called Confederate flag is really a battle flag and not the flag of the Confederate States of America. As such, it is the battle flag of a failed rebellion. Why either side would elevate its symbolism beyond that is not the subject of logic. For those who oppose it, their very opposition elevates it beyond its historical context. For those who view it as part of their "heritage," why would they want to celebrate a heritage of defeat?

BTW, my great grandfather was an 18 year old private in an Alabama artillery unit at the end of the Civil War. He came home when the war was over. It is time for everyone to recognize that the Civil War is over and we all won.