At least you recognized "sweetie" as the top headline of the day, above 127,000 deaths in that shaving cream country or whatever.

Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage due

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/BAMH10MC8M.DTL

or maybe you didn't...really..why should anyone care??

It took what? Two weeks

To Obama's team: You gotta talk to him about this shit. Now.

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/05/rep_mcdermott_endorses_obama.html

it's not a big deal. if anything, it just reflects regional differences.

ugh.

And sorr, Obama publicly calling women "sweetie" (for the second time in as many months, btw: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2008/4/4/obamas-sweetie-problem.html_) is exactly the kind of paternalistic bullshit the media SHOULD be calling him on. (IMAGINE the outrage if Hillary or another candidate had referred to a racial minority by a similarly diminutive, dismissive label) But, as has been amply established during this campaign: Racism unacceptable (as it should be); sexism, A-OK!

"Obama Visits New England, Refers to Soda as 'Pop', Rioting Ensues"

Next!

Good for him for apologizing, boo on Erica for not noting that, and now who's gonna help him STOP DOING IT?

Fuck people, take off your damn blinders.

ECB, did you post this at the top of the morning news because you think Obama is sexist? Look at his wife and mother, strong and educated women both, and the intelligent women he surrounds himself with. That's really reaching.

The reporter responded well to his apology and answers to her questions. Obama properly neutralized this issue. It's definitely not the top story of the day.

I'm glad he apologized, but, even though I'm an Obama fan, this one stung. God damnit.

i understand the diminutive connotations, and that it falls under the kind of passive, "male privelege" sexism that flies under most peoples' radar. but to say it's on par with "n!gger", or for that matter "b!tch" or "ho", is a little silly. and now that he knows better, i'm sure he won't say it again.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080514_mh_ants.fdb759a6.html

Crazy Raspberry Ants, wasn't that a band?

"Sweetie" is not the same as "dude" or "hon" for the same reason the n-word isn't the same as "honky."

A white guy calling a black reporter "boy" is a good analogy. Racists can easily argue that "boy" is a term of affection.

one can only speculate whether or not he'd been called out on it before, but being from chicago does not guarantee that he has. but now that he knows better, if he does it again, i agree it's unacceptable.

Compare, of course, when Joe Biden called Obama clean and articulate, apologized, and Obama accepted his apology and moved on. Obama has no interest in being a victim and a loser his whole life. His goal is to collect victories, not defeats.

So the victimologists can place another trophy of defeat on their mantle and celebrate with a good long cry. Nobody else cares.

Julie at 30 and 32, he may not be straight off the farm, but he does have daughters. Young daughters, to whom he may often have to say "hang on, sweetie".

You can make a case that McCain is sexist, not because he may say "sweetie"-- that would just make him doddering. No, he's sexist for opposing equal pay for women, for dismissing reproductive health rights, and for having a trophy wife who wants to restore the First Lady to her "original" role (and she doesn't mean Abigail Adams).

And on the same points? Obama supports womens' rights all around (NARAL endorsed him yesterday) and has an amazing, educated, clever wife and constantly talks about how much better than himself she is.

I don't think "sweetie" is evidence of a deep-seated bias against women. It's just evidence that he's the father of a couple of little girls.

Julie, ECB, or anyone else: Do you really think Obama has a single solitary sexist bone in his entire body? Can you not differentiate between an archaic expression and true subjugation of women?

Plenty of real, actual sexism going on...why obsess over this incredibly mild appearance of impropriety? The man apologized. Move on.

This is why liberals get such a bad rep...we get so fixated on petty bullshit it compromises the larger message.

Ladies, please remove yourself from this sanctuary of Seattle and travel outside the city limits. You'll find much worse things to be worried about.

If being called "sweetie" is a terrible injustice, I shudder to imagine your reaction at real sexism.

But, after watching the video, I do think that this one particular moment was a sexist act. I'm sorry but the "he has daughters" thing doesn't ring true to me. So do many of my co-workers and clients, and it would still be 100% inappropriate for them to call me sweetie in a professional situation (which is what this was).

Am I disappointed? Definitely (note that I didn't say angry, elenchos). Does this mean I won't support him whole-heartedly in the general? Definitely not.

(Of course, ECB was not really posting this to demand he fairly own up to it, but just to bite at his ankles as she usually does. Otherwise, she'd have also noted the apology, which got plenty of publicity.)

http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/wherein_i_tell_you_exactly_when_you_can

Maybe the level of unintentional sexism is different, but the level of intentionally marginalizing someone definitely is not in her favor here.

Many or most women would say being called "sweetie" like Obama did is insulting and dismissive. If Obama said "wait a minute, miss" to her or "wait a minute, dude" to a male reporter, there isn't a person alive who would find that offensive. On the other hand, "wait a minute, boy" would be insulting to many/most black people.

Use the smell test instead of trying to justify why other people shouldn't be insulted.

Erica was going out of her way to portray Berger as an out-of-touch old guy (and I'm not saying he isn't) by snidely calling him "dude" more than once.

It wasn't hip slang, it was an effort to paint him as someone who's viewpoint is obsolete, and thus not worthy of consideration. That was wholly intentional.

Granted, it was stupid of Obama to call a reporter "sweetie." And maybe he did it as intentionally as Erica did. (I personally don't think that's the case.)

But the point is, it's ludicrous for Erica to be self-righteously pointing fingers about this when she pulls the same shit herself.

It typically doesn’t bother me (if anything, it has given me some great “you’ll never believe what this guy said” stories to tell over beers). But that’s because I neither like nor respect the men who have said these things. Obama, I like and respect quite a bit. So, it was disappointing to me that he would say something that was a mildly-sexist dismissal of a woman.

I never tried to imply that Obama’s comment was worse than attacks on reproductive rights or any of my other “real enemies”. It was just a disappointment.

Barack Obama agrees with you. Barack Obama knows the word was disrespectful, and he did not intend to be disrespectful. He apologized. He was chastened, and accepts that he deserved to be chastened.

You are right. He was wrong. He apologized. What are you holding out for? What more do you need from this?

I'm glad he admitted he was wrong and apologized. I'm not "holding out" for anything more from him (though, it would be nice if more people on Slog actually agreed that it was wrong in the first place). But, it was a disappointment. Even with the apology.