‘Sweetie’ leaves bad taste for Obama critics

Americans weary of “bittergate” can rejoice. It’s time for “sweetiegate.”

The presidential election has veered onto another odd tangent, courtesy of Sen. Barack Obama, who uttered not an epithet nor insult against blue-collar workers — but a term of endearment.

On Wednesday, the Illinois Democrat called a female broadcast reporter “sweetie,” the moment recorded for posterity on video. In 24 hours, the three-second exchange had inspired global news coverage, follow-up stories from the offended correspondent and a debate on both feminism and news credibility.

Oh, the drama.

Peggy Agar, a reporter for ABC affiliate WXYZ, had been trailing Mr. Obama during a morning campaign appearance at a Michigan auto plant, demanding to know what he planned to do for Detroit autoworkers.

“Hold on one second, sweetie, we’re going to do — we’ll do a press avail,” he said, casually implying that he would take care of the question during a formal question-and-answer period with other reporters.

The promised moment never happened. A vexed Mrs. Agar went public with the tape and her annoyance, noting that “this sweetie” never got a story.

By 3:16 p.m. — the exact time carefully noted by WXYZ — Mr. Obama was in major mea culpa mode with his entire apology either broadcast or posted online by the station.

“Hi, Peggy. This is Barack Obama. I’m calling to apologize on two fronts. One was you didn’t get your question answered, and I apologize. I thought that we had set up interviews with all the local stations. I guess we got it with your station, but you weren’t the reporter that got the interview. And so, I broke my word,” the candidate said on her voice mail.

“Second apology is for using the word ‘sweetie.’ 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. I expect that my press team will be happy to try to make it up to you whenever we are in Detroit next,” Mr. Obama said.

Mrs. Agar — a mother of a toddler who normally covers nitty-gritty local issues and crime — made cameo appearances on the evening news in the same bright suit she wore during her now infamous Obama encounter. Eager anchors demanded to know whether she was “shocked” and revisited the video clip.

“Frankly, I have been called worse during interviews than just ‘sweetie,’ so that really didn’t take me aback right then,” Mrs. Agar said yesterday.

“I felt more offended that he didn’t answer the question,” Mrs. Agar added, noting that she hadn’t even listened to the message until yesterday morning.

“Now here’s a little gaffe from Barack Obama that will energize the ‘I Am Woman’-humming folks in Hillaryland,” Tim Graham of the Media Research Center said yesterday.

“As gaffes go, this seems mild. ‘Sweetie’ is a very nice word, especially if used with a person you find to be sweet, like a wife or daughter or niece. It beats ‘Hold on one second, you pushy broad.’ If Obama ever said that, Hillary would have a party,” Mr. Graham added.

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