The word? Obama.
To use a quote from my favorite Robin Williams film, Dead Poets Society:
No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.Doesn't matter whether the idea is good, or that the words are in and of themselves meaningful, it's the use of the Big O that is changing the tide for Republicans throughout Oklahoma and dare I say, the rest of the country. In a story written by the conservative blogger and Oklahoma talk radio legend, Mike McCarville, friend of the 2nd Amendment Jay Paul Gumm may be getting a lashing because of his so-called connection with the Big O - through a polling firm. It doesn't really matter to some that Gumm really does not support Obama's policies, what matters is that the needle in the haystack has been found and the Republican machine is at work to make sure that the six degrees of separation from the Big O and Gumm is in full effect.
In my home state of Washington - a Democratic stronghold to be sure - the Big O is being invoked across the state with some of the most blistering attacks on incumbent Democrats ever seen in politics. The "P" word is being used there as well and it is working thus far.
Truth be damned and the heavens fall, for this is the year when the Big O becomes a problem for virtually every Democrat running for office in any state, county or even city. The Republican apparatus is laser focused on finding any connection to Obama and exploit it through the use of every known form of media. The Big O is so toxic, that none of us should be surprise if the private sector doesn't start invoking it to increase market share:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
From: Scope
NEW YORK, NY: President Obama uses Listerine. Good, patriotic Americans use Scope and if the Founding Fathers were here, they would have used only the constitutionally conservative and remarkably delicious Scope, not the communist, socialist Listerine.
Well, you get the picture.
Words and ideas can change the world and sometimes, these words have meaning and sometimes they don't. You make the call.