Frank Luntz: Obama "[c]learly ... trying to make a statement" with flags "behind him" at March 18 speech -- but he often speaks with flag background

Summary: On Hannity & Colmes, Frank Luntz said of Sen. Barack Obama: "[W]hen he gave his [March 18] speech on race, it was the first time that he used American flags behind him." However, Media Matters has identified numerous prior instances in which Obama spoke in front of either multiple American flags or a prominent American flag.

On the April 9 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, responding to the assertion by co-host Sean Hannity that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama has made a "very conscious effort to show him as being pro-American after the Jeremiah Wright controversy," pollster Frank Luntz said of Obama: "[W]hen he gave his speech on race, it was the first time that he used American flags behind him, and they were stacked all the way across. No matter where your camera was you got that." Luntz added, "Clearly, he was trying to make a statement." Luntz was referring to Obama's March 18 speech on race and politics at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. However, Media Matters for America has identified numerous prior instances in which Obama spoke in front of either multiple American flags or a prominent American flag.

For example:

March 3, 2008, San Antonio

March 2, 2008, Nelsonville, Ohio

February 21, 2008, Obama's message to the people of Sderot, Israel

January 1, 2008, Des Moines, Iowa

September 12, 2007, Clinton, Iowa

August 24, 2007, Conway, South Carolina

May 30, 2007, Reno, Nevada

May 29, 2007, Iowa City, Iowa

From the April 9 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: Barack Obama and the issue of -- they've now gone very -- a very conscious effort to show him as being pro-American after the Jeremiah Wright controversy. Tell us what you got.

LUNTZ: Well, the first thing is that, obviously, when he gave his speech on race, it was the first time that he used American flags behind him, and they were stacked all the way across. No matter where your camera was you got that.

HANNITY: Right.

LUNTZ: Clearly, he was trying to make a statement. We've got a couple sound bites of Obama taking what some people say is a conflicting point of view on what he thinks about America. First, let's listen to Barack Obama when he's coming out patriotic -- almost sounds like Ronald Reagan. Let's take a look.

—M.B.B.