Traditional USA Wins with Coca-Cola's 'E Pluribus Unum' Disclaimer

Michael Patrick Leahy appeared on Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125. He declared that Coca-Cola’s inclusion of the “E Pluribus Unum” disclaimer in its “America the Beautiful” ad, broadcast during the opening ceremony of the Sochi Games last Friday, represented a victory for traditional America, new media, and the grassroots.

When Coca-Cola aired a Super Bowl ad in which “America the Beautiful” was sung in different languages, Breitbart’s Michael Patrick Leahy blasted the subtext of the ad, immediately writing that the beautiful ad used a patriotic hymn to push “multiculturalism” and separatism down the throats of Americans:

The old “America the Beautiful” is beautiful because of the blessings God had heaped on it and because its government offers “liberty in law,” while aspiring for togetherness. Coca Cola’s America is beautiful because of the differences in its people. When the company used such an iconic song, one often sung in churches on the 4th of July that represents the old “E Pluribus Unum” view of how American society is integrated, to push multiculturalism down our throats, it’s no wonder conservatives were outraged.

Leahy had been mocked by the left-wing Colbert Report, particularly regarding Leahy’s emphasis on E Pluribus Unum, but Coca-Cola blinked, agreeing with Leahy and the millions of other Americans who pushed back relentlessly throughout the week.  

Leahy told Breitbart News Executive Chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon that Americans who believe in the “melting pot” theory of assimilation “have shown here that if we stand on principle, we can defeat this multiculturalist view of some of these corporations” that adhere to the “Party of Davos” mentality held by a global permanent political superclass who often do not care about a country’s borders, language, and culture. Leahy emphasized that the “new media and the grassroots can fight back and defend the constitutional view of the world that most Americans believe–and win.”  

Leahy said that Coca-Cola released an extended cut of its Super Bowl ad after the event, and there was no mention of E Pluribus Unum in that ad, either. He said the evidence suggests that the company included the “patriotic disclaimer” in response to the reaction it received and because it was concerned about its bottom line. 

“Traditional America has won a victory,” Leahy said, emphasizing that he was referring to the Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity, who believe in “E Pluribus Unum” and a common culture that has always exceptionally united Americans. 

Leahy asserted that E Pluribus Unum represents an America where immigrants come to the country and keep their cultures and even their languages but ultimately learn English, participate in America’s system of governance dedicated to the principles of constitutional liberty, and assimilate. He said the version of America that Coca-Cola promoted is multicultural and more separatist. 

Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow said on the program that though those who believe in the “Salad Bowl” theory of assimilation mocked Leahy, Coke apparently agreed with him enough to air that different version of the ad. Marlow, testifying to the strength of new media and the grassroots when galvanized, said that he did not recall new media going up head to head and getting such a clear victory against the likes of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert who are so skilled at setting the narrative, even in sophisticated and elitist circles. 

Marlow also pointed out that even the longer version of the Super Bowl ad had a message that Coke is the one thing that Americans can agree upon when there are Americans who have been united around “E Pluribus Unum” and “In God We Trust.” He said the “voices of new media and grassroots are too loud for Coke to get away with this” because Americans watching the ad felt so strongly that what Coke was pushing was not what is primarily beautiful about America. 

Presidential historian Craig Shirley told Breitbart News that Coca-Cola “realized they made a mistake, but showed intelligence by quickly responding to valid conservative criticisms by adding the ‘E Pluribus Unum’ patriotic disclaimer at the front of the ad.”

“The storm of opposition to Coke’s infamously tasteless ad shows that a vast majority of Americans still see this country as a melting pot and not a gaggle of entitled special interest groups,” Shirley said.

Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle said on the show that pushing onto immigrants who come to America multiculturalism and the balkanization that exists around the world not only makes it easier for political powers to divide and control them but is also “anti-immigrant,” for it makes it tougher “for them to succeed in this country.”