Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Tootsie Issue

Words seldom fail him, but one has tripped Barack Obama up.

Yesterday he apologized to a Michigan reporter for calling her "sweetie." In a voicemail message, he mea-culpaed, "That's a bad habit of mine. I do it sometimes with all kinds of people. I mean no disrespect and so I am duly chastened on that front. Feel free to call me back."

But he may be an habitual offender. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times points out that he used the word in addressing a Pennsylvania factory worker last month.

If Obama shares a ticket with Hillary Clinton, he'll have to watch his mouth

3 comments:

R. S. Abrinaud said...

Oh, come ON! Does anyone really care that he called someone "sweetie"? People in the South and the Midwest do it all the time, regardless of gender. Don't we have better things to do than drum up "scandal" where there isn't any?

Anonymous said...

He may know what he is doing. When I was just out of high school, we used to go to Dunkin Donuts after work. I wondered why the waitress treated me poorly compared to one of my co-workers. He simply said "Call her, Honey." So I did. She brightened immediately.

It all depends upon the people involved...

Anonymous said...

It's not about using the word, it's about the *attitude* when using certain words.

Obama's cockiness has long been my problem with him. And that cocky attitude was out in full force when he said that. He can be blatantly condescending.

I don't care if he's a Democrat or not. We shouldn't justify and accept bad behavior just because he's "on our side."

I'm not looking foward to another four years with a smirking, arrogant person running things.