Opinion: Words Barack Obama swears by

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Another day closer to the Iowa caucus and another several events in towns that merge into a gray blur and hundreds more eager faces in the crowds listening intently to every word the candidates say, as if it’s the first time they’ve ever said them to such a group instead of the 800th.

And then something comes out of left field.

Today in Knoxville, Iowa, The Times’ Maria LaGanga was watching Barack Obama take questions from the crowd unlike a certain fellow senator from New York. The unusual question came from a woman who described herself as a Republican. She said she has “enormous respect� for Obama because her daughter, “an Obama girl,� is volunteering for the senator from Illinois.

The woman had only one question on this chilly Sabbath morning: “What separates you from Mitt Romney?�

“That’s a very long list,� Obama replied, laughing. �Let me say this. Mitt Romney is a very handsome guy. He is taller than me. I was listening to an interview this morning and somebody asked him has he ever cursed.

“And he said, ‘Well, of course, but not the real harsh ones,’� according to Obama’s account. Then, the politician from Chicago’s South Side made a public confession. “I have to tell you,’ he said, ‘I have used some really harsh curse words. The really good ones, the juicy ones.�

Seriously, though, most of the Republican contenders, Obama said, “seem to be looking for a continuation of Bush-Cheney policies…There is going to be a very clear choice between myself and any of the Republicans.�

And on that you can bet your sweet #a$&**g!%.

--Andrew Malcolm