Althouse: "Hi Peggy. This is Barack Obama. I'm calling to apologize on two fronts."

১৪ মে, ২০০৮

"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.... 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."

All kinds of people? Will he be calling Ahmadinejad "sweetie"? Just what we need is another President getting too familar...

৩৫টি মন্তব্য:

নামহীন বলেছেন...: I don't get why that is such a big deal. That is a pronoun for someone of the opposite sex. Any man who has spent more than 15 minutes south of the Mason Dixon line knows that if you go into a business and a woman greets you, she'll call you "sweetie." Up in New England, she'll call you "hon."; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১০:১০ PM
নামহীন বলেছেন...: He goes around calling "all kinds of people"

Really?

All kinds?

Or only those female types?

Somehow I would get a grandma calling everyone "sweetie" but Barack Obama?

What's he running for Grandma in Chief?; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১০:১৫ PM
Eli Blake বলেছেন...: He got slapped around in the media last month for using the same pronoun on a factory worker in Pennsylvania.

Myself, I don't have a problem with it. I get called that sometimes by the waitress at Denny's, but I don't think she's coming on to me or something (especially since usually my wife is with me when she says it.)

It's a pronoun, generally used when someone (generally of the opposite gender) doesn't know or remember your name, but wants to be less formal than 'sir,' or 'ma'am'.) But maybe he should come up with another one.; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১০:৩৭ PM
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) বলেছেন...: Did he at least answer the question in his voicemail?; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১০:৪২ PM
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) বলেছেন...: 2nd thought: you know, if he pledges to call Ahmadinijad "sweetie" on a regular basis at all their meetings, I'd consider voting for the guy. (Obama, I mean. Not dinner jacket man.); ১৪/৫/০৮, ১০:৫০ PM
Eli Blake বলেছেন...: ben:

He actually told her he'd let her personally ask him the question when he returns to Michigan.; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১০:৫৯ PM
Fr Martin Fox বলেছেন...: About that video of the President and the Chancellor...

Gee whiz, I was so embarrassed when I saw that video. The President of the United States is doing that to a head of state? No class.

Who cares about "sweetie"? That he felt a need to apologize is more telling to me.; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১১:০১ PM
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) বলেছেন...: Oh, he's good.

That's the slickest way to put off answering a question I've heard yet in this campaign.

Say what you will about his policies and instincts, if he's wielding that silver tongue on the nation's behalf...; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১১:০৭ PM
vbspurs বলেছেন...: "This is BarACK! OHHHBama".

That was weirder for me, than sweetie.

Still, we all have our ways of pronouncing our names, don't we. I call myself Vike-tura.

Cheers,
Victoria; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১১:২০ PM
vbspurs বলেছেন...: Waitttt, wait a gosh darn minute here! This just dawned on me, sluggish Rethuglican that I am.

Why do you call a woman to apologise for being overly familiar and sexist, then proceed to address her by her first name -- like he's known her all his life?

Shouldn't he have said.

"Hello, Miz Agar?"

Forget Grandma-in-Chief.

He's going to be the Waffler-in-Chief.; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১১:২৮ PM
Ron বলেছেন...: eh, sweetie, who cares?

But if he starts to call Putin "sugarhips", I'll start to worry...; ১৪/৫/০৮, ১১:৫৯ PM
blake বলেছেন...: Still, we all have our ways of pronouncing our names, don't we. I call myself Vike-tura.

Like, "V-eye-k-too-ra?"

Interesting. I'd be inclined to pronounce it with a heavy Russian accent, like:

Veek-tooohhhhh-rrr-roll-that-r!-rr-eea

Or occasionally like a surfer dude:

Vic-chur-ya

Which is precisely why I'm annoying to have around.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ১২:৩১ AM
reader_iam বলেছেন...: Call me crazy, but in real life it's the tone and attitude, and sometimes history, that matters, not the word and in and of itself.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ১:১১ AM
vbspurs বলেছেন...: Which is precisely why I'm annoying to have around.

That's nonsense, Balalaika.

Cheers,
Victoria; ১৫/৫/০৮, ১:৩০ AM
titusdaddyyourshashairiwonttellmommy বলেছেন...: Obama doing this is disgusting.

Bush giving a shoulder rub to Angela Merkel is patrotic and we love it.

I got laid tonight. He just left. He was from Brazil.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৩:১৪ AM
titusdaddyyourshashairiwonttellmommy বলেছেন...: He was cut also which comes as a surprise to me.

Normally, Brazillians are uncut.

It was a pleasant surprise.

His ass smelt good too which is always a plus.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৩:১৯ AM
rhhardin বলেছেন...: I return to the prose of the reviewer's [of the Random House Websters College Dictionary] packet: ``Our entries are defined so that even the most militant feminist (whoever he or she is) cannot find fault'', says Sol Steinmetz, executive director of the RHWCD. ``We strive to be evenhandedly nonsexist, referring to gender only when relevant.'' How can someone be evenhanded when trying not to offend the most militant feminist?...

...I suppose it is possible that in some future world a trucker might walk into a diner, like what he sees, lean aacross the counter and say, ``How long have you been a server, honey?''

Wm. Kerrigan, ``The Neurotics' Dictionary'' _Raritan_XI:3 p.102 (Winter 1992); ১৫/৫/০৮, ৫:০৮ AM
Hoosier Daddy বলেছেন...: I don't get why that is such a big deal. That is a pronoun for someone of the opposite sex.

Try saying that to your administrative assistant or some other female co-worker and get back to me.

I don't think its a big deal either but the feminist, PC crowd made it that way.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৫:২৫ AM
George M. Spencer বলেছেন...: Won't help with Hillary voters or many women in the general.

That's why he jumped on it so fast.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৬:৫৩ AM
নামহীন বলেছেন...: I hope she had the presence of mind to answer "Don't worry about it, boy."; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৭:৫৮ AM
নামহীন বলেছেন...: এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৮:০৪ AM
I'm Full of Soup বলেছেন...: "Agar" - what does that name bring to mind?

F-Troop of course. Larry something played Agar the f-up.

Re Obama, why are the Dem prez candidates never comfortable in their own skin? They are always fing-up dumb stuff too. Like this "Sweetie" thing. If you said it, OK you said it.

But then Obama compounds the small error by apologizing on an answering machine??; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৮:০৬ AM
kight বলেছেন...: We usually use the term darlin', though a little west of here it could rarely still be cher. I won't post what some west of here might use for Obama himself.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৮:২৪ AM
pst314 বলেছেন...: "I don't get why that is such a big deal. That is a pronoun for someone of the opposite sex. Any man who has spent more than 15 minutes south of the Mason Dixon line knows..."

So what part of Obama's youth was spent south of the Mason-Dixon line? Was it when he lived in Kenya or Hawaii?

Obama is far younger than me, so is it okay for me to address him as "boy"?; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৮:৩৮ AM
pst314 বলেছেন...: The fundamental problem, of course, is that Obama has such a condescending attitude towards all sorts of people.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৮:৩৯ AM
Tiny Bunch বলেছেন...: I think calling her Dude would be worse. Especially Duuuuude.

I have low standards in a President (have to this election season) but I draw the line there.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৯:০১ AM
sandy shoes বলেছেন...: Actually, as a parent of two girls, as is Obama, I'm surprised this doesn't happen to him more often. "Not right now, sweetie" can get to be kind of an autopilot response.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৯:৩৬ AM
নামহীন বলেছেন...: While it's often difficult to tell the difference between a reporter and a five-year-old who wants something, this didn't appear to be one of those cases.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ১০:০৪ AM
Buford Gooch বলেছেন...: He could have made the same comment to the reporter without addressing her with any type of diminutive at all. The "Sweetie" was gratuitous and condescending. His admission that he does it to all kinds of people makes it worse, not better.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ১০:০৮ AM
vbspurs বলেছেন...: His admission that he does it to all kinds of people makes it worse, not better.

Reminds me of Rosie O'Donnell apologising for her "ching chong" slur on The View, but saying knowing how she herself is, that it'll probably happen again.

I don't lose sleep over being called "sweetie" by strange men. It's all to do with context, and tone of voice.

It's the feminists and PC-crowd who care, and unfortunately, those are his base.

Cheers,
Victoria; ১৫/৫/০৮, ১:০২ PM
David বলেছেন...: If I called one of my college students sweetie there would be hell to pay. The problem isn't the word, it is the context (I get hunned and sweetied all the time in various restaurants, but would be stunned if I got it in a 5 star retaurant) and frankly Obama has a tin ear.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ১:১০ PM
Amos বলেছেন...: Actually, given Barack Obama's Jimmy Carter-like foreign policy ideas, I think it'll be Putin, Al Qaeda, Castro, Chavez, Arrrghmanedejad and Hamas that'll be calling Obama sugar hips.

Cause that's where all the sweet stuff is.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ২:১৭ PM
Unknown বলেছেন...: Down here in southwest Ohio we tend to use "hon" instead of "sweetie," although the latter is also in use in the workplace. Men refer to women that way, and vice versa. I've also noticed that men generally don't refer to other men that way, although women do.

This also depends on the individual, some folks being more formal than others. Also note that such familiarity does not occur between employees of different "ranks."

While not any kind of Obama-maniac, I don't doubt that he was using a term of informal familiarity picked up in his Chicago activist days.; ১৫/৫/০৮, ৭:৩৪ PM
Ofc. Krupke বলেছেন...: While not any kind of Obama-maniac, I don't doubt that he was using a term of informal familiarity picked up in his Chicago activist days.

I don't buy that as a common usage in Chicago activist circles.

Half the recipients would lecture you about your diminishing of their personhood, and the other half would knock your block off.

Some overlapping percentage would do both. This is Chicago we are talking about. :); ১৬/৫/০৮, ৪:৫৮ AM
AnechoicRoom বলেছেন...: [Will he be calling Ahmadinejad "sweetie"?]

Hmmm ... my vote is for Sugar Dumpling.; ১৬/৫/০৮, ৭:৪৩ AM