Fellow Ohio blogger Bizzyblog has an intriguing story about how Maureen Dowd has detected a possible fatal weakness in Barak Obama. In October, Dowd wrote a nice little piece on Barak and said, among many other things, "his ears stick out." So what? No big deal you say? And yet, 50 days later:

Obama is very sensitive about his press. After his press conference, he headed toward New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and chided her - in a kidding way - for a comment in the 12th of 14 paragraphs in an Oct. 21 column. She wrote that Obama's "ears stick out."

"I just want to put you on notice," he said.

"I was teased relentlessly when I was a kid about my big ears."

This seasoned political professional must not be very familiar with the Ross Perot era and the fun the editorial cartoonists had with that guy.

Now that this story is out, Rush had it yesterday, and we know that Obama is "sensitive" about it. It's like putting gas on the fire.

Also precious is Dowd's reaction: "We're just trying to toughen you up". Implicit in her statement, is that she is on Obama's side, and has detected a fatal weakness. As Bizzy writes:

Put aside for the moment that Dowd would never cut a conservative politician a break like she just did to Obama in reaction to what he said. The exchange would be Exhibit A in her next column about what a weak, thin-skinned weenie the guy was.
...
MoDo knows her Democratic men, and she can spot serious trouble in a Democratic male candidate. It is clear from what she has written that she isn't just trying to "toughen up" Barack Obama about his ears; no, she's clearly worried that "toughening him up" is a comprehensive long-term project that has a high probability of turning out badly. I believe she would prefer that the project not be launched.