Let’s get some perspective.  I am chagrinned to see the current state of our election process.  Not enough substance, and too much knit-pickey junior highish rhetoric.  The most recent example of it this week being the accusations that Barrack Obama dissed Sarah Palin by calling her a pig.  I’m not an Obama supporter, but I don’t think so.

I saw the video of Obama’s speech in Lebanon, VA, where he said: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”, and really thought nothing of his comments. It was obvious that he was trying, yet again, to link John McCain with George W. Bush.  That’s fair game. To read anything else into it says more about the listener than the speaker.

But I will admit, when I saw it a second time, after people started making a big deal out of his “Pig in Lipstick” anaology, I did notice something.  The crowd seemed to infer something that Obama did not seem to intend.  Obama appears to have quickly recognized what they were reacting too. He may have even been somewhat amused by their reaction.  But all he did was finish his thought.  No slam. No sexist implications. Just politics. 

While I expect nothing of substance from the media, I am disappointed with the two campaigns.

The McCain people should have simply ignored it.  Perhaps more appropriate, Sarah Palin should have risen above it all, and released a statement that Obama was not talking about her.  I realize that this would have then become a missed opportuity at keeping the Obama people off their game. But that’s precisely the problem that causes me disappointment.  Both campaigns are treating this campaign like a game – a childish game.  And the presidency is not a game.

My disappointment in Obama is because of his response to the accusations.  I understand what it is like to be misunderstood, to have your words twisted and applied in a way that they were never intended. It is very frustrating. I understand that there are people out there just looking to take offense, and willfully look for every opportunity to do so.  And I believe, in this case, Obama has fallen to just that trap.  However, his response was shrill, and, I think, weak.  Rather than recognizing that even his own supporters inferred something, and then disarmingly and firmly reiterating his intended point, Obama moved back into the junior high level himself.  With a feaux bravado, he declared: “Enough!  I’ll not have another election stolen…” 

Mr. Obama, no election has been stolen. Recent elections have simply been lost. 

Why do I write about this? Well, because I’m praying for both of these guys who are running for president. And I’m praying for our country.  I’d like to see that these guys are taking seriously the problems and challenges facing the people they hope to lead.  It’s time that they get back to thinking and acting like grown-ups.  It’s time they act like leaders.