These kinds of things need to be appropriately assigned to one of three categories: misspeaking (dopey, but innocent); embellishing, lying, and caught being honest (Obama’s San Francisco remarks, Obama’s handling of Wright and what he knew and when); and policy screw-ups (Obama not knowing anything about tax policy–see the ABC debate; Obama’s intention of meeting with rogues without pre-conditions).
The first category should be catologued but turned over to Jay Leno for late night humor. I do think that in the aggregate they’re important because they seem so far to prove that Obama, more so than McCain, suffers from ageism.
The second category are things that Obama’s camp likes to pass off as innocent statements that are “distractions,” but they’re extraordinarily relevant in evaluating the character of the candidates.
The third category is, of course, important. These differences, along with the matters in the second category, should for the basis for voting for either candidate.
