Posted by
The Valletta Papers on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 10:54:35 PM
The Obama campaign should consider as a new theme song, the Richard Burton tune from Camelot: "How to Handle a Woman." And one quick piece of advice along these same lines: do not call Governor Sarah Palin a pig, with or without lipstick.
It’s hard to imagine that it was only one week ago that
Governor Sarah Palin burst Barack’s bubble! She uttered a few deft lines mocking
his pompous presumptuousness. And, pop went the weasel. Arguments have actually
ensued over which were her best zingers. Was it her line about Barack’s
authoring of “two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even
in the state Senate?” Or when she reminded us that Obama was the kind of “a man
who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use
the word ‘Victory,’ except when he's talking about his own campaign?” My
personal favorite was her warning that “when the cloud of rhetoric has passed,
when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out and those
styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot... When that happens,
what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish
after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet.”
Still, who would have ever imagined that Obama candidacy
could sink so fast? By comparison, the Titanic even looks like a better
ride. Palin is evidently the iceberg the Obama campaign never expected. When
hit, rather than bailing the flood of incoming water, Barack’s bucket brigade
frantically grabs the fire hoses to put out the Palin fire, while their ship
sinks. Meanwhile, his passengers are jumping ship at an alarming rate.
Governor Palin may be the General Petraeus of the 2008
election battle. Recent polls show a dramatic surge upward for the McCain/Palin
ticket. The
RealClearPolics.com polling average now has McCain leading Obama by
2.3 percentage points. According to the L.A.
Times, “Democrats expressed anxiety about the new challenge suggested
by recent surveys showing McCain has gained ground among independent voters and
women, who could decide the race in states such as Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania
and Virginia.” The Times cites the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released
Tuesday showing that “McCain is now winning among white women 52% to 41% after
having been statistically tied with Obama in that crucial category just a month
ago.” Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a strong Obama backer, anxiously
worried: “Whenever you see that kind of movement, you ought to be concerned; you
ought to try to address it.”
Based on yesterday’s news, the Obama camp has not yet figured
out how to address the problem of Sarah Palin. Obama was quoted on an ABC
blog as saying: "You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's
still a pig." Considering Palin’s oft-told joke about the only difference
between a hockey mom and a pit-bull is lipstick, one need not make too much of a
leap to conclude that Obama was calling the Republican vice presidential nominee
a pig. At least that is how many women are interpreting the comment. The
lipstick smear must have been part of that morning’s Obama campaign’s
talking-point memo. According to Politico,
Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan introduced Joe Biden at a campaign event
and referred to Governor Palin’s record with slightly different lipstick
reference. He said: “There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a
lot of lipstick.”
Many pundits, including those at Power
Line, are now wondering aloud “whether Obama is starting to come
apart at the seams. As his party's Presidential nominee, he should be doing
battle with John McCain, not Sarah Palin. But he seemingly can't help himself.
Over the last couple of days, several generally apolitical people have told me
that they think Obama has been melting down ever since Palin's nomination was
announced. Hysteria does appear to be sweeping the Obama camp, with over the top
attacks on both Palin and McCain. One wonders whether their internal polling
numbers are really, really bad.”
Paul
Mirengoff suggests that “McCain threw Obama a curve-ball when he
selected Palin, and it has Obama off-balance. Actually, the Palin pick might
better be seen as a knuckle-curve. The curve ball consists of the gender card,
not completely unexpected but still difficult to deal with. The knuckler
consists of Palin's instant celebrity status. Surely, Obama did not expect to
face the prospect of being matched, or even overshadowed, in this category.”