A few weeks ago, Obama raised a few good-natured eyebrows at the Women of Soul concert at the White House when in his speech, in giving tribute to Aretha Franklin and her signature hit "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," he unwittingly spelled respect as "R-S-P-E-C-T." This little slip brought an immediate knee-jerk from his political opponents who jumped directly to comparing the "respect" faux pas to Dan Quayle’s 1992 "potato" flub, which was not taken with such good-nature and which some more cynical election observers credited with Bush’s defeat just five months later. This was all contrasted with yet another amusing tongue-slip March 3rd, this time from none other than Pope Francis. But I will get to that one later.
