The obligatory photo. The last time he wore one was at a rally in Pennsylvania when a disabled vet put him on the spot by handing one to him. Congrats, Barry: The issue you manufactured is now of sufficient interest to the media that this idiocy actually qualifies as newsworthy.

Barack Obama, who labeled discussion of whether he wears a flag pin in his lapel a false issue in a debate with Hillary Clinton, was wearing one Monday as he campaigned in West Virginia ahead of Tuesday’s primary vote there.

Obama made no reference to the pin, which could be clearly seen in television images and through telephoto lenses as he spoke in Charleston, W. Va., about veterans issue. There was no public comment from his campaign…

Although Obama sometimes wears the pin, more often he doesn’t. And he’s long insisted on being a different kind of politician who doesn’t resort to gimmicks or give in to pressure to conform to the status quo.

Except that’s exactly what it looks like he’s doing, doesn’t it? Now that the Democratic primary’s over and he’s courting a set of voters less easily impressed by the Higher Patriotism that comes with nobly refusing to wear a piece of 99-cent tin on your jacket, back on it goes, magically divested of the Iraq cooties just in time for the general election.

Exit question one: Let me guess — a staffer’s to blame, right? Exit question two: What on earth is he doing campaigning in West Virginia? Hillary’s up by 35 points; every minute he spends there makes it look more like a true contest between them. What does he want with those bitter, clingy rubes, anyway? They’re going Republican in the fall regardless.