I know it’s been a long campaign season, but we have reached a new level of seriousness for gaffes by Democratic presidential candidates.
First, Hillary Clinton — making the argument for continuing her campaign into June — noted that Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in June following the 1968 California primary. This caused many pundits to wonder whether she was trying to remind voters of the possibility of an attack on America’s first black to become a serious contender for the presidency. At best, it was insensitive. At worst, it was a calculated effort to get some publicity at at a time when the media seems to have moved on.
Not to be outdone, Barack Obama went for a gaffe double play. On Memorial Day – which most Americans realize is a holiday to honor those who have lost their lives defending our country — Obama said he saw “many” Memorial Day honorees in the audience. Having spent part of Memorial Day with someone who lost a close family member in Iraq, there is nothing funny about that gaffe, or the ignorance it exposes.
He also gave a speech where he said his uncle helped liberate Auschwitz. When reporters noted that the Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz, Obama’s campaign said he made a mistake and really meant Buchenwald. And it was his great uncle, not his uncle.
Sometimes politicians commit gaffes because they are tired. At other times gaffes are caused by ignorance or political miscalculation. At their worst, gaffes expose a candidate’s willingness to lie or distort in order to mislead voters. It should be an interesting fall as the American people sort through the reason Democrats are committing so many major verbal blunders.
