Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Lipstick and Calling a Spade a Spade
Who would be shouting what right now if it were a different commonplace colloquialism? Supposing, say, John McCain got up at a rally and, describing Barack Obama's liberal elitism, said, "My friends, let's call a spade a spade ..."
There is disingenuousness aplenty in political circles today. It's fairly certain that if a Republican made a "lipstick on a pig" comment in a race involving a Democratic woman, GOP-ers would dismiss the resulting liberal outcry as yet another example of the PC police running amok. In the current situation they are wielding the political correctness nightstick with the gusto of the righteous getting to play the villain for once.
And by the same token, if McCain (or any other GOP-er) employed the "calling a spade ..." colloquialism, everyone would return to their familiar roles of outrage and outrage-at-the-outrage.
MSNBC's Chuck Todd summed up L'Affaire Lipstick correctly this morning: He called it a joke and a "bright shiny objects" issue—a distraction from "real" issues. And it is that. ("Spare me the phony outrage," Obama said today, actually sounding angry instead of whiny. Good for him.)
Obama's biggest blunder here wasn't lack of sensitivity as such, but lack of awareness of the need to be hypersensitive. The McCain campaign is cynically off base here (surprise!), but Obama should know well enough to not give the Republicans a line of attack, regardless of legitimacy.
What Obama and his campaign should be doing now is shifting the campaign story line away from Palin as fast as possible because she's not, you know, the GOP nominee for president.
Tags: presidential election 2008 | Barack Obama | Sarah Palin
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (94) | Print
Reader Comments
Play it Off Obama
Obama was playing it cool when he hesitated and covered his eyes while making his "lipstick on a pig comment". He knew what he was doing and saying. His biography list his profession as both an atty and lecturer. Both these professions require analytical skills. For Obama to make such a statement was at best poor judgment/timing and at worst an intentional blow.
His sexist remark, (yes, sexist as most men do not wear lipstick), came much too soon after Palin's Republican National Convention speech. After all, Palin's famous lipstick joke was plastered all over the media...Did Obama not notice this? If he didn't, I certainly do not want him standing watch over the USA. Perhaps it was just another gaffe on his part like the 57 states in the U.S. that he made mention of, or his "Islamic faith". Maybe he should adopt Britney's Spears, "Opps, I Did It Again" as his new campaign theme song. At any rate, when Obama's bad choice of words was offensive to some, he neither met said offense with remorse nor apology. Instead he angrily points the finger elsewhere i.e., the GOP. Well, Mr. Obama, you wouldn't get my vote after your arrogant and abusive, "Spare me the phony outrage" statement. It may sound cute to your party, but it's not a partisan thing with me so much as a gender bias coupled with your compassionless attitude towards those you've offended. Futhermore the way you play things off damage your credibility to those who are more intelligent than you give us credit for.
Cecily: When I see a spade I call it a spade.
Gwendolen: I am glad to say I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.
--Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Spade meaning 'a black person' is far more recent; it is first found in the early twentieth century. It derives from the black color of the suit of spades in a deck of playing cards.
Clearly our expression to call a spade a spade was very well established long before the word spade had any racial sense. However, today the word does have a racial sense. If the expression is assumed to be offensive, it should be used with caution even if there's no real basis for the assumption. This is not an unusual event. The word bloody, for example, does not derive from a profane oath such as "by our lady," but that's what people thought, and the word was considered quite offensive. The incorrect etymological assumption did not change the word's offensiveness. Few people today would object to call a spade a spade, but some people might, and one should at the very least be aware of that.
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970115
advertisement
