9/10/2008
Ben Smith’s blog on Politico today quoted a recent remark by Senator Obama, who paused to criticize the media for headlining his use of the phrase “lipstick on a pig.” Here is an excerpt from Smith’s blog:
“See, it would be funny, but the news media decided that would be the lead story yesterday. This happens every election cycle. Every four years, this is what we do. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about…Enough!” he said.
Is Senator Obama really telling the media “enough”? I’m sorry, but I don’t think anyone gets to tell the media what to do. I’ll agree that sometimes too much is made of silly things, but that is life in the fast-paced world of politics.
Certainly, the Obama Campaign has done everything in its power to use innocent statements made by McCain to generate headlines. The most recent example was McCain’s light-hearted joke about the definition of rich. McCain was asked by Rick Warren to “define rich” when it came to how taxes ought to be applied in this country. McCain first replied that he was not interested in taxing anyone; rather, his goal was for everyone to become rich.
When pressed, McCain jokingly said, “how about five million.” Everyone chuckled in the audience and then McCain, realizing that his joke would likely be taken out of context followed up by saying, “I’m sure that comment will be distorted.” And, of course, it was. In fact, Obama began using the line on the campaign trail as if it were a completely serious statement, and even released an ad using the quote.
So, was Senator Obama’s quote regarding McCain’s policy positions being “lipstick on a pig” off limits? Why would it be? Senator Obama has already demonstrated that nothing is off limits in this campaign.
The McCain campaign, hearing the quote and another similar quote from another Democrat made an issue of it, partly because of the way Senator Obama’s audience reacted to the statement, which was hoots of derisive laughter. Senator Obama may not have meant the comment to refer to Governor Palin, but his audience did make the connection, which is more than enough reason to make political fodder of the remark.
It was Senator Obama who reminded us months ago that “words matter.” He seems to have forgotten this in the heat of the campaign, with momentum so clearly in the McCain camp right now.
Which brings me back to my original question; is Senator Obama losing his cool? He hasn’t hesitated to accuse Senator McCain of being hot-headed, but Obama seems to be displaying a bit of his own temper these days.
For Obama, the pressure is really on. His fundraising efforts are suffering a bit right now, the polls show the Republican Convention was a greater success than was the Democratic Convention, and McCain’s pick of Governor Palin to be his running mate has turned the race upside down.
This, of course, shows you how Senator McCain has used his age and experience to advantage. When Senator Obama went on his world tour and tried to leverage his celebrity to gain in the polls, Senator McCain used that very celebrity to sow doubts about Obama’s ability to lead. Though outspent by the Obama Campaign, the McCain Campaign managed to release a series of ads that generate enough buzz to give them a far broader circulation and, thus, increase their effectiveness.
Finally, when Senator Obama went for the safe choice of Biden, passing over a sure win that Senator Clinton would have given him. Senator McCain was able to take Obama’s “safe choice” and turn it into a disaster. And it’s a disaster for two reasons.
First, adding Senator Clinton to the ticket would have made it impossible for the Palin to have changed the dynamics of the race as it has in the past two weeks. Secondly, Obama would have Senator Clinton’s council on how to run against Republicans. Let’s not forget that running against Republicans is something that Senator Clinton has been doing for a couple of decades now, with an impressive list of successes to her name!
Now Obama is running against both Senator McCain and Governor Palin, which is a race that obviously has him flustered. His other worry has to be how the upcoming debates will go. Senator McCain has an inherent advantage over Obama when it comes to such debates, as he demonstrated recently during the Saddleback debate.
If Senator Obama turns in another halting, tentative performance, he may well be done. Will he? I doubt it, but if I were an Obama adviser, I’d be nervous. Senator Obama will have to be ready for these, but can he get himself ready with the need to conduct so many fund-raisers as well as campaign stops?
Senator Obama’s outburst may not be the last we see in the next 8 weeks.
3 Comments
Hey, Obama, what’s that I hear? Oh, it’s the Fat Lady Singing, “Lipstick on your collar!”
Comment by Chris Dickson — 9/10/2008 @ 11:40 am
Comment by David — 9/10/2008 @ 1:16 pm
“Hey, Obama, what’s that I hear? Oh, it’s the Fat Lady Singing,”…to good
Comment by jimbot — 9/12/2008 @ 5:25 pm