Everybody has an opinion about Barack Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment. Some, like former acting governor Jane Swift, found the remark insulting to Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin. Others say it’s much ado about nothing.

But we’re overlooking the group that’s been most maligned by this scandal—pigs. It’s shameful that we have forgotten about all the wonderful things that pigs (with and without lipstick; metaphorical and literal) have done for us.

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Our roads and bridges are a lot like the presidential candidates. We’ve got the John McCain of local infrastructure, the Longfellow Bridge. The span has given us many years of service, but it is old and not in the best of health.

Then there’s the Barack Obama of our highways, the Big Dig. It’s young. It’s flashy. It’s expensive. It’s an example of what America can accomplish. And nobody’s completely sure it will live up to its potential.

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Like it or not, the Big Dig is going to define Boston for decades to come. What was once celebrated as an engineering marvel has resulted in a death and also serves as a cautionary tale to other cities who want to rework the highways that run through them.

And now, the project’s price tag has skyrocketed to $22 billion.

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In the years we’ve lived in Boston, we’ve had the opportunity to attend six championship parades. We loved having the chance to ogle cheer Tom Brady up close during the three Super Bowl parades, but nothing will ever be as special as the Red Sox’s 2004 victory tour that was so cathartic for generations of baseball fans.

While we love all the coaches and players who’ve paraded through the city before, none of them had as much fun as the Boston Celtics did today.

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The fallout from the subprime mortgage collapse has hit Boston hard. Entire neighborhoods have been abandoned by homeowners who fell behind on their payments, and the economic impact of questionable loans is spreading beyond the real estate market. Now the Turnpike Authority is in trouble with a variable-rate loan, and it can’t walk away from the 138-mile roadway it’s responsible for.

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It will be interesting to see how history will view the Big Dig project. Currently, the city’s attitude ranges from anger that the damn thing cost so much to shoulder-shrugging indifference because we’re stuck with it.

But other cities aren’t willing to experiment with underground highways, largely because of what happened here.

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This morning the papers reported that a Big Dig settlement would come as soon as today. Lo and behold, this afternoon it was announced that the companies involved in the construction and design of our leaky, fatal tunnel will pay the commonwealth a combined $458 million.

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Much like our traumatic childhood memories, we’ve repressed our recollections of what it was like to drive around Boston during the height of Big Dig construction. It may be time to seek counseling to deal with our dormant transportation memories. With the decay of several bridges between Boston and Cambridge, it looks like we’re in for another decade of detours and delays.

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The Big Dig is like that crazy relative you make fun of all the time. Sure, you’re allowed to laugh at his foibles, but if an outsider ventures a comment, the gloves come off. Therefore, we’re a little angry with our tiny neighbor to the south, who thinks its own major highway project is too good to be associated with the Big Dig.

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There’s something cinematic about the idea of an art heist. Someone dressed in head-to-toe black suddenly pulls a mask over his face, grabs a precious artifact, and runs for the doors as alarms whoop. The city’s latest art theft is less a blockbuster scenario, and more the petty bickering of rich men.

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