Uh-Ohbama

Obama hands the McCain-Palin campaign a gift:

“That’s not change,” Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said of what Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is offering.

“You know, you can put lipstick on a pig,” Obama said, “but it’s still a pig.”

The crowd rose and applauded, some of them no doubt thinking he may have been alluding to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s ad lib during her vice presidential nomination acceptance speech last week, “What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”

I think Obama was just using an adege that's been around forever, and I doubt he was trying to be sexist in any way. But with women already rallying behind Palin, in no small part because of the tone of criticism she's attracted, this was exactly the wrong thing to say. (It reminds me of a controversy around 15 years ago, when Doritos changed its packaging - and put up billboards reading, "kiss the old bag goodbye.")

Damian P.

Posted by damian at September 9, 2008 09:50 PM