Maybe it's Maybelline?

Much to-do about The O's ill-conceived "lipstick on a pig" comment yesterday. About nothing? I'm not so sure. The obvious connection is to Republican VP nominee Gov. Sarah Palin's line in her speech at the RNC differentiating hockey moms from pit bulls by their lipstick. Just reading the line without context (including the crowd reaction) doesn't tell much; however, if you watch the video of the comment, it's clear in my mind that he was trying to besmirch Palin in a plausibly deniable way. What galls me about the resulting brouhaha was that The O actually accused the McCain campaign of playing "the gender card," as if he and his supporters have been playing the entire campaign above board. It's presidential politics, I know, and I suppose that hoping someone in the game has any shame is too much to expect.

Interestingly, The O continues to engage Palin rather than McCain. His campaign rehashes the same tired lines about McCain, but the frequency with which the Democratic presidential nominee seems to speak directly to/about the Republican VP nominee says a lot to me about where his head is these days. Besides the difficulties in generating intelligible communication sans teleprompter, there seems to be a palpable, if unquantifiable, difference in The O and the way he carries himself. Something to watch in the days and weeks ahead...