Good luck.

Yeah, it would be nice if that happened, but it's not going to anytime soon.

Barack Obama's refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin is one of these classic sideshow issues.  Does it matter in terms of his views on health care reform, tax policies, the war in Iraq, etc?  Of course not.

Does it matter to some voters?  You bet it does.  And you can bet that the Republicans will hammer on this as part of their fall campaign if Obama is the nominee.

This flag pin issue is starting to remind me a lot of the dustup in 1988 over the Pledge of Allegiance.

Back then, Michael Dukakis was being skewered by Republicans for vetoing a bill approved by the Massachusetts legislature that required teachers to lead their classes in the Pledge of Allegiance.

In the end, it didn't matter how logical the Dukakis arguments were.  It was one of those symbolic issues that Republicans have been so easily able to exploit against Democrats.

I remember when GOP lawmakers in Congress seized on the issue in September of 1988 and demanded that the U.S. House recite the pledge at the beginning of each day's session.

It had not been done before and Democrats - who had been in charge of the House since the mid 1950s - gave in, but not after a verbal fight, led by then Speaker Jim Wright.

"I think it is very important that all of us recognize that the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag is something intended to unite us, not intended to divide us," said the Speaker, who then ordered the House to start reciting the Pledge daily.

The issue kept Democrats on the defensive both in Congress and in the race for the White House that year.

''What is it about the Pledge of Allegiance that upsets him so much?'' the first President Bush said of Dukakis back in the Fall of 1988.

It doesn't take much to imagine a similar John McCain sound bite this fall.

"What is it about wearing an American flag pin that upsets Sen. Obama so much?"

The camera then cuts to a roaring GOP crowd with just about everyone waving small American flags. 

Translated without having to say it, "We are patriotic.  The Democrats aren't."

It would be nice if we could have a full-throated debate on issues.  But that has never really been the history of Presidential elections.

It would be nice if we didn't question each other's patriotism.  But that's not the way our elections usually go - and this is not a recent development. 

Rev. Wright isn't going away for now.  The flag pin issue isn't either.  The "bitter" episode may also continue to dog Obama until he toughens his answers.

The question for Democrats is does that make Hillary Clinton a better choice than Barack Obama?  Does she have a better chance to beat John McCain?

She's got baggage too, of a different sort. 

Is it worse than Obama's?