Obama and Lipstick: Republican Smears Have Started Again

It happened to Al Gore and John Kerry, and now it’s happening to Barack Obama. At this time of year, Republicans once again ramp up their attacks and smears, and skirt the real issues by focusing on irrelevant remarks that are often distorted to the point of absurdity.

The latest is Obama’s comment about putting lipstick on a pig. Republicans, who suddenly are so in tune to women’s issues and ready to pounce on any hint of sexism, falsely accused Barack Obama of slamming Sarah Palin. After all, she's the only candidate who wears lipstick, right? That’s logic at its finest.

Obama’s full quote was a description of how John McCain’s policies did not differ at all from George Bush’s policies: “That’s not change. That’s calling the same thing something different. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” Obama’s full lipstick quote is here on Youtube.

The fact that McCain is slowly shuffling ahead in the polls is a sad indication that the American people still fall for this nonsense. Obama is now being painted as a sexist, out of touch with women’s issues, and downright mean. How could someone dare call the only woman in the campaign a pig? That's what people across the country are hearing right now in this monumental distortion of the truth.

Democrats’ refusal to sink as low as Republicans, of course, has cost them more than a handful of elections. In 2004, overnight, John Kerry became a liar over his duty in Vietnam, and a leader who would “cut and run” from Iraq. Naively, he shrugged off the swift-boat garbage and assumed that people would focus on the issues of the campaign. That strategy didn’t work, and by election day, Kerry was nothing but a country-hating traitor who would raise your taxes.

Sadly, Obama is going down the same road. While he did address the lipstick comment by saying he loved this country too much to see it taken over by politicians who engage in “swift-boat politics,” he is not fighting back hard enough. It’s time for him to get his hands dirty.

Democrats, for various reasons, are just not as good as Republicans at putting issues in their most simplistic form. Nuanced answers might have worked 50 years ago, but today, a nuanced answer puts voters to sleep. Maybe Obama will learn this by the time the debate gets here, but then again, debates are probably not enough to overcome smears and attacks. In the debates four years ago, John Kerry made George Bush sound like a bumbling eighth grader, and we all saw how that turned out.

So, how does Obama do it? By doing exactly what Republicans have done to him. John McCain said himself that he doesn’t understand the economy. Obama and Biden should mention that in every campaign speech until they’re blue in the face. How about Sarah Palin saying that going into Iraq was a “task from God”? How about Palin’s lies regarding the “Bridge to Nowhere?” How about McCain voting with someone who has a 32% approval rating 90% of the time?

This is just a start, but Obama has to start playing as if he’s behind in this race. If he maintains the status quo, he will most definitely lose.

Sep 11, 2008 1:32 PM

Guest :

I think if you listen to Obama, you'll hear plenty of clandestine digs. He just says them cleverly and then when attacked backs out of it by saying it wasn't what he meant--people are taking his words out of context. This is an almost daily occurance with him. As far as being smeared, I've never seen anything like what Sarah Palin is going through. She must "really" be a very nice person to get all that sadistic criticism.

Sep 12, 2008 8:27 AM

Guest :

Jeff Stanglin- Are you serious? Where have you been? I'm an independent voter but your biased article is so transparent that it becomes completly unbelievable. You write quite well so A for that but fail in perception of reality. F for that. try again.

Sep 12, 2008 10:56 PM

Guest :

what is to be feared is that the great moronic mass of humanity that constitutes the american electorate, which has a history of rejecting competence and voting in dyslexic bushes, illiterate quayles and malapropistic reagans into high office - might once again fall prey to the same repblican dirty tricks and put the ex-mayor from a small town in alaska into a job that is just a heartbeat away from the highest office in the land! may god save america!
adam mitchell, asheville NC

Sep 13, 2008 6:38 PM

Guest :

What's so "unbelievable" about this article? I find it right on the mark. Sarah Palin is indeed a lightweight -- look, she can see Russia from one of Alaska's islands! Now that's foreign policy experience. The woman is way out of her league. I don't know why Palin should get preferential treatment. That's the way the system works -- you get out there and take questions from the voters and the media. Frankly, there's no way I want to see senile Gramps and the hockey mom/moose hunter anywhere near the nuclear football. I'm voting for good, solid mental health -- Obama/Biden. To use a sports metaphor, I think McCain is peaking too soon -- it ain't going to last. Beware of Obama's ground game on Election Day. Gone are the days for the GOP when they can load up a bunch of Jesus Jumpers in green Baptist buses, haul 'em to the polls and expect to win. Get out the old anti-Goldwater buttons from '64, but gear them towards Pain (sorry, Palin): "In Your Guts, You Know She's Nuts."

Sep 14, 2008 12:11 PM

Guest :

It's unfortunate that what voters listen to is the trash that gets thrown around, regardless of its truthfulness. I agree that Obama is going to have to be more repetitious in pointing out the failings of McCain and Palin before voters will begin to hear him. It's said that we don't absorb information until approx. the fourth time we've heard it.

And regarding Palin, I'm a woman and I'm so sick of hearing how she's being treated differently. She's being treated like a politician, which is what she is. If she can't take the heat I recommend she gets out of the fire!

Good article.