My latest comment at tdaxp was bleeped or held for moderation.

In reference to the discussion there, “Is Barack Obama Too Black to be President?”, in which Dan suggests that Obama used ageism to attack John McCain (the spin repeated again at tdaxp, as if it had not occurred nearly enough in so many other places), I wrote:


A fuller quote:

“This is offensive, and I think it’s disappointing, because John McCain always says, ‘Well, I’m not going to run that kind of politics,’” Obama said. “And then to engage in that kind of smear, I think, is unfortunate, particularly since my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his.”

The Illinois senator added: “For him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name-calling in this debate.” [1]

A definition of “bearings” includes:

“6. Direction, especially angular direction measured from one position to another using geographical or celestial reference lines.

7. Awareness of one’s position or situation relative to one’s surroundings. Often used in the plural: lost my bearings after taking the wrong exit.” [2]

“Bearings” has a relation to seafaring, as anyone even slightly aware of that subject knows (#6 above); the word has been metaphorized to include any sort of veering off course, through the phrase “to lose one’s bearings” (#7)

Reading the fuller quote from Obama, in context — not merely pulling the phrase and then dreaming a context for the proper negative spin — shows how he meant it. To on the one hand claim an aversion to smear politics, but veering into using such political ploys after all, is to lose one’s bearings. To claim one is a “straight talker”, to take a principled stand against smear politics, but engaging in dubious assertions precisely to smear Obama, McCain has veered off his principled course: he may be losing his bearings.

It has nothing to do with age — unless you are so sensitive about your age, you choose to hear it in a much more limited context of your own creation.

[1] http://news.aol.com/story/_a/obama-accuses-mccain-of-losing-his…

[2] http://www.answers.com/topic/bearing?cat=technology