Obama Calls Reporter 'Sweetie' In Michigan

Barack Obama passed off a reporter today in Michigan, and she seemed less than amused by his name for her.

"Hold on one second there, sweetie," he says.

The reporter signed off: "This sweetie never did get an answer to that question."

Comments

[Antacid]

ZOMG he is so sexist. Oh, and today the serving President of the US used Israel as a giant political club to beat up the presumptive nominee of the other party. But let's all stay focused on how sexist Barack is.

[personalpolitical]

C'mon, really? This is news? I've had people call me sweetie and baby, not in a sexist or demeaning way, but in a friendly way, big deal. I love how the media, even Huffington Post, loves to jump on any little thing to try to paint Obama in a bad light, and to take us away from the real news.

Really, unless he slapped her on the ass when he said it, or told her to go bake him a cake, unless I missed that part in the video, this is more than ridiculous.

[KillTheMessenger]

I had a couple of waitresses in the US call me "sweetie", which, at first, not being used to it, was like "What the heck..." and then I understood that it was just their way of being friendly. I gave a good tip and was never offended. If somebody does it now, I just smile back.

[pupbayer]

You should take the time to read this entire article. It might explain to some of you how some of us feel about this campaign.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/14/AR2008051403090.html

[barrista]

boo hoo.

I won't miss you and your posts.

I won't miss Marie Cocco's rants.

Have a good day!

[dibby]

Thanks for posting this pupbayer, so true!!

[KillTheMessenger]

So what's any of that got anything to do with Senator Obama? There were always people of bad taste and there always will be. Is that more important to you than getting the troops out of Iraq?

[vsign]

Obama doesn't want to get his hands dirty.
He can't stand on his own two feet,
His supporters have to carry him,
Or he has to cling to a church pulpit.

Obama throws his chin in the air,
And looks down at us.
When he isn't reading a telepromter,
He stumbles and stutters with his words.

Who is the real Obama?
What can he really DO?

Who does he think we are?
Just consumers? Just ready and able to serve him?

What does he think America is?
57 or 58 states?

[barrista]

LOL are you writing a poem here? Get your lame ass garbage outta here.

[jpetaluma]

Oh My God. This is truly pathetic. I'm a woman with kids who I call honey of sweetie or cutie all the time. Sometimes it leaks when I'm out in the world and I accidently call someone honey or something. This is so minor. He is not a sexist, and the man apologized. Some of these Clinton supporting women will never cut him a break. It wasn't his fault NARAL endorsed him. Should he have said - Gee, I can't accept your endorsement because Senator Clinton deserves it more than me? Remember how the MSM jumped all over him when he said he didn't want his underaged daughters "punished" by having an unwanted pregnancy. That took alot of courage for him to say that considering what a political minefield abortion is. And for a black man to say this - man, that took some guts! Please stop all this nastiness. McCain is the enemy, not Obama.

[vsign]

What a chameleon Obama is. One day he wears a flag pin after saying it is false patriotism and next he wears a cross. Is the cross false Christianity Obama?

I always saw Obama has the preacher man. When he gets to the white house he wants to tear out the bowling alley. I think he should build himself a big arena with a gigantic pulpit so he can give us all those BIG speeches he is so good at. All this while we are groveling at his feet for bread and clean water.

I also see him as a dictator like Americans only imagined in foreign countries. He is the king of censorship. He is very weak minded as a character and will need lots of props to encourage him that he is the GREATEST. Maybe there will be lots of "sweeties" dancing at his feet.

He will truly be the one who takes us back in time.

[barrista]

Get some new material, your garbage is starting to stink even more.

[gditty]

You're quite mad vsign....seriously!

"He will truly be the one who takes us back in time"....

Trillion dollars in debt, gas $4 gallon, foreclosures skyrocketing, spending a billon a month on a war, economy sinking, dollar value sinking....Oh yea, that Obama dude would really set us back!

[cdub1991]

There are times when I wish these posts weren't anonymous. Then everyone you know could recognize you for the fool you are. I'm not in the habit of insulting people on this web site but, your sort of posts just indicate that you don't deserve any respect from any of us.

[leftoflennon]

Call me sweeetie and damn day.

[azteacher]

I was about to post these exact sentiments. You beat me to the punch, leftoflennon! Barack, you can call me sweetie any damn day, as well!

[leftoflennon]

He can call me sweetie ANYDAY.

[DMHendrix]

oh God please tell me people are flipping out over this one. It was obvious he meant no disrespect and on the day when Bush & Lieberman are on the loose w/Nazi appeasement bullshit, I think this one needs a big flush down the toilet. move it along..........

[Rianna]

It is so amusing to see the feigned outrage in some of these comments.

Oooh he called her "Sweetie", how terrible, how arrogant!!!!!! Ooooh, we must not vote for him because
he called a reporter "Sweetie".

Try to focus on Obama's policies, and what is best for this country.
You can find where he stands on important issues on his website.
Do not get distracted from what is important.
People were distracted with petty things, like Al Gore's sighs, his clothing, his gaffes, in 2000, and
look who we ended up with.

[pupbayer]

I'd love to but I can't get past his disrespect for 51% of Americans. Basic respect is the ground level stuff to me. It IS important.

[2008andbeyond]

What disrespect for 51% of Americans? What are you talking about? Does Hillary hate all men with her guilt about voting for a female president, in addition to disrespecting all blacks? Together that's more than 51% of the population.

[jah2008]

Yeah right. You'd love to? You'd love to see Obama beaten. That's what you'd love. Your previous comments say it all. Hillary disrepected ALL Americans who have supported Obama. Yes, it IS important that Hillary Clinton stop dividing this nation and apologize to all Americans.

[CjAzure]

He can call me sweetie anytime! He is probably used to calling his daughters sweetie and it stuck! Man, it must be bizzaro to have a microphone recording your every word when you talk to thousands of people a day! You have to be a special kind of person to run for Prez. It seems like it would be a nightmare to me!

[pupbayer]

He chose this life. He's fought for it. He's a bright guy but he keeps doing dumb things. This is arrogant and disrespectful and an out and out stupid thing to do. That is why some of us do not trust him with important issues. If he can't even handle a reporter appropriately without offending a huge group of voters...

[IndependentAllways]

Has he offended a huge group of voters? Why don't you just speak for yourself. He offended you and it is your God given right to be offended but why do you assume to speak for everyone else? I am a strong independent woman and I am absolutely not offended.
What offends me is Cheney saying "So?", What offends me is thinking it's okay to say you will obliterate a country, what offends me are jokes like "bomb, bomb Iran", what offends me is that in the richest country of the world there are children starving, those are the things that offend me.

[barackobama4prez]

everytime you come around here with stupid comments you will be challenged. these boards are very pro-obama...can you not see that? I'm the first of his supporters to admit when he fucked up, but I will also denounce and repudiate the haters lol

[Rianna]

Bush called a reporter a "major league AH", Bush just implied that Obama was a Nazi appeaser,
Dick Cheney insulted Sen. Leahy and used the F word on our Senate floor.

Obama called a little girl (same age as his daughter), sweetie too.

Hey, anyone wouldn't mind being called "Sweetie", compared to the names used by the
Bush administration. This is much ado about nothing.

[pupbayer]

So if he is better than Bush and Cheney, that is good enough. You kind of have low standards, don't you?

[barackobama4prez]

no YOU have low standards for sticking with your flawed leader. Hillary is NOT fit to govern America.

[Testtubebaby]

I wanted to check back because I had a feeling my comment was scrubbed on page one, yep it bit the dust... sheesh!

Anyway, so what ? He could call a lot of us "sweetie" with no sweat, he meant no harm! (Is that better? haha.)

[barrista]

Here is the reporter talking about the apology. SHe didn't even care about the word "sweetie". She was just frustrated she didnt' get an answer. But they were all impressed that he personally gave her an apology.

http://www.wxyz.com/content/news/2008vote/story.aspx?content_id=8190d4d2-a1da-457c-af83-de8a427fff6b

So ladies, lighten up

[OneLiberalLady]

I call men "sweetie" from time to time. Is that so wrong?
And as to the idea floating in a few of these comments that Obama doesn't like strong woman, I have a two =word response: Michelle Obama.

[OverIt]

To clarify... So "sweetie" is a bigger slur than "trollop" or "c-nt"???

[antaeus]

To clarify: Is calling a grown woman "sweetie" more condescending than calling a grown black man "boy"?

[Tane]

There is a huge difference. "Sweetie" is a term of endearment, "boy" is a derogatory term with a long history laden with belittling and emasculating African American men. An equitable term would be "bud" or "buddy." I am a strong woman and I don't find "sweetie" offensive. I'd rather be called "sweetie" than "mam" any day.

[pupbayer]

Is it any less?

[robXdion]

How in the hell do YOU know??? Are you a black man?

More condescending? So every man that calls his daughter, wife, grandma or GF that is condescending? And you equate "sweetie" to a pejorative euphemism used in the wholesale emasculation of black men? You sound like Geraldine Ferraro telling how lucky black men are in the US.

[MaryOK]

He could not or would not answer her question - about helping auto workers - so he used language that dismissed this reporter. He said he woul get back to her with an answer and never did.

There are definely patterns with Obama not answering serious questions and turning on those who ask them. I've seen his and his staff's response a number of times to print articles they don't like. All report a call from either he or his staff and all agree to print his response but neither he nor his staff ever get back to them if they can not refute the story or he choses not to..

Obama dismissed this reporter -no mistake about it.

[Marrob]

Is can't answer don't his supporter get? Okay I'll answer that one HELL ON they don't get it. Obama will be a huge friggin bust as president and the republican will be back in four years. He had better get his s*** together and quick!!!

[barackobama4prez]

some how I'm not scared yet. keep trying.

[barrista]

The reporter didn't even care about the word "sweetie".

Here she is talking about the apology she received: http://www.wxyz.com/content/news/2008vote/story.aspx?content_id=8190d4d2-a1da-457c-af83-de8a427fff6b

She actually seemed quite impressed that he personally apologized for not answering her question.

So go back to talkleft where they're still crying about Edwards' endorsement.

[Tane]

Obama set up interviews with the local stations to answer their questions at length, including hers. He wasn't aware that she would not be the reporter assigned to interview him. The reporter herself has said that she wasn't offended at the time and that she felt good that he called her to personally apologize.

This is so trivial!