The pig thing

I was listening to Dennis Prager discussing Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” thing. I think Dennis is right; I don’t think Obama was referring to Palin. It’s a well-known idiom, so one wouldn’t read too much into it, any more than one would assume that “That sucks” is intended as an anti-homosexual slur, or “He gypped me” was intended as an anti-Romany slur (as if your typical American had ever met a Rom.) But listening to the recording, it’s totally obvious that Obama’s listeners made the connection. After all, “lipstick” was one of the first words most Americans heard out of Palin’s mouth. Nor did Obama say anything to dispel the connection.

What we have here is not an attack on Palin but an incredible case of tone-deafness. And to go on the attack and claim that the Pugs are Swift-boating is just nuts. Let’s try another idiom: What if McCain had said, “The difference between the two candidates is as clear as black and white”? Do you think for one moment that McCain would get a pass on that? It would be universally considered to be a racial reference, and universally condemned. Indeed, it would probably lose him the election.

If it was tone-deafness, the best thing for Obama to do is to apologize. Hey, we all screw up without the teleprompter. If he’s not going to cop to that, if he’s going to act as if this tone-deafness was not an issue, then it’s legitimate to ask: If he can’t speak diplomatically to the American citizenry, why should we expect diplomatic speech to foreign leaders? How far is “lipstick on a pig” going to get him in the Moslem world?

UPDATE: But maybe it was deliberate, a line stolen from the groundlings?

UPDATE 8PM: The lovely and talented Ms. Lucas makes precisely the same point as mine, but with more aplomb.