Obama's "lipstick" remarks weren't malicious. It's a great deal worse than that.
It seems that Barack Obama didn't originate the lines that led up to his "lipstick on a pig" remark the other day.
They were almost a word-for-word... er, borrowing... of the caption from an editorial cartoon that ran four days earlier!
That same day, of course, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had run another cartoon depicting Sarah Palin as a pig wearing lipstick.
Look. I really believe Barak when he says that he didn't mean to call Sarah Palin a pig. I really do. The thing is, though, that you have to be more careful than to use a metaphor about pigs and lipstick such a short time after your opponent has given such a well-publicized speech comparing herself to a pit bull wearing lipstick. The temporal context makes your remarks look like a personal attack, whatever you actually intended.
And politicians who are ready for prime time know enough to avoid situations like that. You have to avoid making yourself look bad- especially when you mean no harm.
They also would probably avoid "borrowing" captions from political cartoons without attribution when both you and your running mate have been known to be a bit fast and loose with other people's words in the past.
Especially when there's a question of your having done it more than once.
Especially when there's a question of your running mate having done it more than once.
Was Barak Obama's prior "borrowing" innocent? Was at least some of Joe Biden's? Quite possibly. But even so, it behooves them to be extra careful not to do anything that even looks like it again- because in context it looks bad.
Sort of like making a statement that sounds like you're calling Sarah Palin a pig wearing lipstick a relatively short time after she so famously described herself and her fellow hockey moms as pit bulls using similar cosmetic adornment.
It's not that Barack Obama is malicious, and it's certainly not that he's dishonest. But he's careless- careless in a way that raises serious questions about whether he's ready for the national stage, much less the world stage.
The problem is not that Barack is guilty. It's that he's so very, very innocent.
They were almost a word-for-word... er, borrowing... of the caption from an editorial cartoon that ran four days earlier!
That same day, of course, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had run another cartoon depicting Sarah Palin as a pig wearing lipstick.
Look. I really believe Barak when he says that he didn't mean to call Sarah Palin a pig. I really do. The thing is, though, that you have to be more careful than to use a metaphor about pigs and lipstick such a short time after your opponent has given such a well-publicized speech comparing herself to a pit bull wearing lipstick. The temporal context makes your remarks look like a personal attack, whatever you actually intended.
And politicians who are ready for prime time know enough to avoid situations like that. You have to avoid making yourself look bad- especially when you mean no harm.
They also would probably avoid "borrowing" captions from political cartoons without attribution when both you and your running mate have been known to be a bit fast and loose with other people's words in the past.
Especially when there's a question of your having done it more than once.
Especially when there's a question of your running mate having done it more than once.
Was Barak Obama's prior "borrowing" innocent? Was at least some of Joe Biden's? Quite possibly. But even so, it behooves them to be extra careful not to do anything that even looks like it again- because in context it looks bad.
Sort of like making a statement that sounds like you're calling Sarah Palin a pig wearing lipstick a relatively short time after she so famously described herself and her fellow hockey moms as pit bulls using similar cosmetic adornment.
It's not that Barack Obama is malicious, and it's certainly not that he's dishonest. But he's careless- careless in a way that raises serious questions about whether he's ready for the national stage, much less the world stage.
The problem is not that Barack is guilty. It's that he's so very, very innocent.
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