The shockwaves over the “Lipstick on a Pig” comment uttered by Barack Obama, here…

 

(Here’s the link–I encourage everyone to share this!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGyQ7qCXg-I

 

…are only just now beginning.  I assure you this is just the very tip of an iceberg that I strongly suspect will completely dismantle the already-fragile Obama campaign.  Well it should.

I want to address some of the defenses that Obama apologists are going to mount for this callous, idiotic statement uttered with purpose by Mr. Obama himself.  The main one of these is going to be “he’s just using a common phrase”.  This much is true–the whole “lipstick on a pig” line is as old as, well, lipstick.  That isn’t the point.  There’s another phrase that has been around almost as long as recorded history, but in THIS race, at THIS time, it would be inappropriate to use the expression “call a spade a spade”.  If John McCain uttered this phrase in any manner addressing Barack Obama, he would be absolutely crucified–as he should be!

You see, this issue goes as much to JUDGEMENT as it goes to any other thing.  Intent is immaterial at this point, although I believe Barack Obama had some intent in his use of the phrase.  Still, it doesn’t matter.  It’s a question of pure STUPIDITY.  Sarah Palin owns “lipstick” at this point, and any attempt to co-opt it will automatically be interpreted BY ANYONE WITH A BRAIN as directed toward her.  In that context, in this race, with female voters paying such close attention to the proceedings and a high-profile woman as one of your opponents, saying something as moronic as this just points to a colossal lack of judgement.  Nobody who actually expects to win this race would purposely use this phrase, unless he’s just out to lunch.

Frankly, that’s exactly what has happened with Barack Obama.  He’s just lost it.  He’s fallen behind in a race he was supposed to win without breaking a sweat.  He’s been overtaken by a strong woman out of nowhere who has stripped his mantle of “star” from him and adopted it herself.  He hasn’t even been able to hold onto his own message of “change”.  He’s suddenly found himself losing ground, losing the support of people who were supposed to be firmly in his camp, and he doesn’t have a clue how or why this has happened.  More importantly, he doesn’t have a clue how to respond to it.  This is why we have this suicidal mistake of a phrase coming from his own mouth this afternoon.

Now let’s discuss the intent of the comment.  While I don’t personally believe he was trying to call Palin a pig, he was absolutely, positively leaving it out on the table, WITH INTENT.  While he may not have OVERTLY been insulting her with the “fish wrapped in paper” phrase, he was positively aware of the connotation that such a phrase carries and was leaving out, again, WITH INTENT.  These are not gaffes, or even oversights.  He did what he did with the intention of having something made of it.  It’s possible these were just intended as laugh lines.  It’s possible they were intended as subtle digs that he could (try to) step away from if they backfired.  No matter what they were, though, they were INTENDED TO CREATE SOMETHING, and as such they demonstrate HORRIBLE JUDGEMENT.  He has either overlooked the backlash (is he really that stupid?), or underestimated the force with which it would envelope him, or he just decided to roll the dice and see if the positives (extra press) would outweigh the negatives (extra BAD press).  Either way, for whatever reasons, he made a terrible, terrible choice.  His campaign will now be made to pay for it.

Of course they are going to come out right away and say that John McCain has used the same expression.  So have I, and so have you–but NOT IN A RACE AGAINST A WOMAN, especially not a woman who has made “lipstick” her trademark.  John McCain most certainly used the comment in reference to a Hillary Clinton bill–but the timing, the situation and the players were all different.  Barack Obama used this phrase intentionally, directing it toward Sarah Palin, while underestimating or ignoring the backlash of his ridiculous mistake.  It’s tasteless and it’s poor judgement and it should bury his campaign forever.

I truly think Barack Obama has completely sacrificed any chance he has of ever reaching the White House.  I will say this much…any self-respecting woman who would vote for this guy now needs to seriously seek professional help–and any self-respecting American who would vote for this guy, given his obvious lack of good judgement, needs to seriously seek a lobotomy.  Nobody in his or her right mind could actually WANT this kind of “leadership” in Washington–especially not in America’s highest office.