Lipstick, etc.

The notion has taken hold in liberal circles that John McCain's exploitation of the lipstick-on-a-pig riff and other Obama gaffes denotes some kind of deep character flaw that disqualifies Big Mac from the presidency. Obama's campaign manager went so far as to suggest McCain lacks "honor." I think that's a serious over-reaction. I don't think 55-odd days is enough time to sell America on the idea that McCain's a lying bastard. (Just think of all the nice things the Dems were saying about McCain at their convention!) They shouldn't try to personalize it to McCain. They should instead argue that, despite McCain's image as a maverick, "his campaign is in the grips of the same kind of business-as-usual attack politics that Republicans have become associated with."

As for the lipstick comment itself, however, its clear to me that Obama meant it as a dig against Sarah Palin. Granted, he didn't coin the phrase "like putting lipstick on a pig," but that's not the point. In the continuing afterglow of Palin's acceptance speech, any derisive mention of lipstick by Obama or his people is going to sound like an allusion to her. I can't believe Obama didn't make that connection. Clearly, the audience present at the rally did, judging from their reaction.

The main reason to think this was intentional, however, is Obama's reaction since the controversy erupted. If his reference to lipstick were truly "innocent," then I would expect him to fall all over himself in making his apologies to Palin. I mean, why wouldn't he just say, "Oh jeez, that's not what I meant at all. My bad. My apologies to Gov. Palin for any misunderstanding." Controversy over. The fact he didn't do this, but instead felt the need to defend his use of the expression, suggests to me that these weren't "just words" to Barack Obama. He felt invested in this choice of words. The reason for that, I believe, is that Obama understood the double entendre, he liked it, and he thought he was being so clever in turning the lipstick thing into an attack on Palin, he would get away with it even if it did seem a little naughty. So when people started to react to the line in horror instead of amusement, his impulse was notably defensive. Again, an innocent person realizing that the comment was being misinterpreted would have been mortified by the reaction and done whatever they could to disavow the negative connotation. Not Barack. He has reacted by trying to turn this into an attack against McCain and the media for creating a made-up controversy. I find that very revealing.