Bush Urges Flag Amendment but Does It With Less Fanfare

President Bush, calling the flag a “unique symbol,” Tuesday repeated his call for a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning.

Bush insisted that the amendment he backs would not harm free speech, likening flag desecration to such forbidden forms of speech as shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater. “It endangers the fabric of our country, and I think it ought to be outlawed,” Bush said.

The President made his remarks after a day in which Democratic leaders in Congress attacked the proposed constitutional amendment, calling it a threat to the Bill of Rights, and Republican leaders literally waved the flag as they sought to boost chances for the amendment’s passage.

Bush’s remarks were nearly the same as those he delivered last year at an event the White House had staged for Bush in his first call for a flag-protection amendment. At that time, Bush traveled across the Potomac to the Iwo Jima memorial to deliver a speech about the importance of the flag as a national symbol and the need to protect it from desecration.

This time, the designer of the Iwo Jima memorial came to him. Felix Deweldon of Oregon presented the President with a scale model of his famous sculpture at a Rose Garden ceremony that was the setting for the latest constitutional amendment drive.

But, while last year’s event was a major “media event” complete with flags, bunting and military pageantry, Tuesday’s was a small gathering before a handful of reporters and cameras with little advance billing.

The shift reflects the changed circumstances surrounding the proposed amendment. A year ago, just after the Supreme Court initially ruled that the Constitution protects flag burning, public outrage was at a peak and the White House saw the flag issue as one with major political potential. But now, with the Supreme Court’s second ruling on the issue, public interest in a constitutional amendment appears to have cooled, and the White House--apparently fearful of overplaying the issue--has assumed a lower profile.

“Amending the Constitution to protect the flag is not a matter of partisan politics, it’s not a Democrat or a Republican issue,” Bush said. “I don’t see it as either liberal or conservative.”