Michael Medved emphasizes that one reason Barack Obama’s race gambit was so egregious is that it was a lie. John McCain hasn’t used Obama’s race or name against him. And then Obama’s campaign aides lied again by claiming that he hadn’t meant to invoke race. But this is a pattern we’ve seen before.

Obama gets caught doing or saying something he shouldn’t — canceling on a troop visit, reneging on his campaign financing pledge or sending out surrogates like Wesley Clark who defame John McCain’s military service. In each instance what snared him and made a one-day story into a multiple-day story were the multiple explanations and the bald-faced disregard for the truth. It was the spinning and lying that really gets the mainstream media steamed. (Even lying about changing his mind on a host of issues brought eye rolls from the press.)

In short, when he gets caught he doesn’t come clean and tends to further undermine his credibility by manufacturing unbelievable excuses that actually make him seem less competent than he is. (The Obama presser on James Johnson is a case in point.) Perhaps it comes from the belief that he is so charming and glib that any old excuse will fly. Or maybe he is just afraid to show weakness and admit error. But whatever the explanation it serves to further undermine his credibility with the increasingly skeptical media and provide McCain with another talking point on his opponent’s poor character.

Like Richard Nixon learned, it’s not the crime, it’s the cover up that will do you in every time.