Some People

In reporting on the video of Barack Obama's speech on the day following the Pennsylvania Democratic Debate, MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer said: "Some think it looks like a flip-off" -- (i. e., "some think" that Obama gave Hillary "the finger" during his post-debate comments about her debate performance).

The key words here are "some think" or "some say".

"Some" is the most important single word used by TV political commentators. Fox News uses "Some people" constantly when they want to slime or destroy a candidate. For example, a Fox pundit might opine "Some say Obama is too radical and too elitist", or "Some think Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster", etc.

Fox can voice any kind of slime attack they want against any candidate by simply saying "some people say this or some people think that" -- and Fox has no responsibility for the statement since Fox itself is not saying it -- "some people" are. Fox can slime candidates with impunity by attributing their own low blows to "some people", and no one can lay a glove on them.

It's a technique that Obama should learn, in his own self-defense. He'll be better off for it. He should learn to say "some people" much more often.

For example, when talking about his white grandmother's apprehensiveness while passing a strange black man in her neighborhood, instead of calling his grandmother "a typical white woman", suppose he had said she was acting "like some white women". He would have de-fused many of the attacks on him for his "typical white woman" comment. No one can deny that "some" white women act like that.

Or, suppose Obama had said that "some people in Pennsylvania have become "bitter" and "cling" to guns and religion when economic times turn bad. How much less of a counter-attack he would have subjected himself to since he was only referring to "some people".

Obama has a tendency to speak in broad generalizations, which his opponents can easily call "stereotyping" -- as they have been doing. Obama can make his same exact points by referring to "some people" -- not "all people" or "typical people". It's a technique that Fox political pundits have been using with maximum effectiveness, and this is one lesson Obama can and should learn from Fox. America has no better slime machine than Fox News.