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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2008-09-10

Re: Lipstick On A Pig 

I think there are three plausible explanations for Obama referring to "putting lipstick on a pig" at an event in Lebanon, Virginia.

A. The generous side of me wants to think that Obama was simply falling back on an old Southern colloquialism

B. Then there's the "Freudian Slip" Theory: he had lipstick on the brain because it was the first line of hers (of several) that were more memorable than his entire speech, and it just found its way into his answer.

or, 3. Or there's the idea being pushed by Hugh Hewitt that Obama was comparing Gov. Palin to a pig.


The problems I have with A. are numerous--of all the places Obama has lived in his life, the American south isn't one of them; surely someone as politically savvy as he would recognize the obvious comparison that SHE drew to herself with the lipstick line in her speech, and would avoid even that little colloquialism; and, if you listen to the audio (which I heard on the radio, but haven't found a link for), it seems pretty obvious that the audience he was speaking to thought he was referring to Gov. Palin. Even worse, getting that reaction from the audience, he doesn't realize what he's said and STILL goes for the old fish line.

3. also does not seem very plausible to me, either. Surely, the "most gifted orator of this generation" could manage to recognize the danger in making that reference deliberately, given her speech last week, and would know better than to take that approach. Surely . . .

Which leaves B. Which I also don't totally buy. Sure, it might have been a slip, but if it were, he would surely clear things up once he heard the crowd's reaction.

Wouldn't he?

I think it's obvious that he's bitter at all the attention she's been getting, he's bitter at being upstaged by this upstart (when was the last time you saw a clip from one of HIS speeches?), and he has no idea where to go with his anger because his whole schtick is "a different way."

Maybe he should try to cling to his guns or his religion a little . . .

What I think actually happened is that somebody in a staff meeting let that line fly a couple days ago, and it got a huge round of laughter. And, in his arrogance, Obama assumed that his audience today would be similarly receptive to that brand of humor, never even considering the possibility that things like that do NOT sit well with a lot of people in the country.

Moreover, I think when you combine his megalomania with his current standing in the polls, you're starting to see both his Chicago roots and his condescension for flyover country, as manifested in STUPID MISTAKES.

Make no mistake--this is an unforced error, and just a plain, old bonehead mistake. Even if it's not what he meant to imply, he and his merry band of national compaign rookies should know better. And it's stuff like this that tells Americans an important fact about Obama:

If this is the sort of stupid stuff he's susceptible to under the pressures of the campaign trail, what sort of blunders is he likely to make under pressure in the real world when, say, China moves to take Taiwan?

If this is how he campaigns, how in the world can he be trusted to lead?
Posted by: Michael / 9/10/2008 12:40:00 AM

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