--- a/Objects/object.c	Mon May 23 14:51:42 2011 +0200
+++ b/Objects/object.c	Mon May 23 16:11:05 2011 -0500
@@ -1348,14 +1348,15 @@
 static PyObject *
 _dir_object(PyObject *obj)
 {
-    PyObject * result = NULL;
-    PyObject * dirfunc = PyObject_GetAttrString((PyObject*)obj->ob_type,
-                                                "__dir__");
+    PyObject *result = NULL;
+    static PyObject *dir_str = NULL;
+    PyObject *dirfunc = _PyObject_LookupSpecial(obj, "__dir__", &dir_str);
 
     assert(obj);
     if (dirfunc == NULL) {
+        if (PyErr_Occurred())
+            return NULL;
         /* use default implementation */
-        PyErr_Clear();
         if (PyModule_Check(obj))
             result = _specialized_dir_module(obj);
         else if (PyType_Check(obj))
@@ -1365,7 +1366,7 @@
     }
     else {
         /* use __dir__ */
-        result = PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs(dirfunc, obj, NULL);
+        result = PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs(dirfunc, NULL);
         Py_DECREF(dirfunc);
         if (result == NULL)
             return NULL;