Obama made it worse by dealing defensively with patriotism - attacking those who questioned his and wondering aloud if wearing a flag in his lapel was a form of pandering. These musings left us in doubt that he really disagrees with Wright, and really embraces the idea that America is exceptional.
But his "patriotism offensive" shows that he's learning how to assuage those fears.
Coming out of the primaries, Obama had separate female and male problems. The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling on guns likely solves his woman problem - worries about preserving Roe v. Wade should now bring female voters flocking back.
But Hillary Clinton's male voters will be a harder sell. In the extreme, their worries about Obama's patriotism even leave some fearing that he could be a sleeper agent sent to the US to destabilize our system. He needs to soothe them at a very fundamental level.
If he keeps striking the same notes as yesterday, Obama can do that. He'll still face attacks on his plans to raise taxes to intolerable heights or to wreck our health-care system by covering 15 million illegal immigrants - but that's normal politics.
At least we'll know that the next president of the United States, should it be Barack Obama, actually likes us.