Damn! Now Obama will never call ME "sweetie"!
Thu May 15, 2008 at 09:16:08 AM PDT
First, let me preface this post by declaring that I am a feminist. I fully believe in equal rights for women, equal pay for identical work, and full reproductive rights. I recognize the long struggle women have had just to get to the point where I can declare my beliefs without being run out of town or burned at the stake.
That having been said, I don't get how anyone can get very outraged over Obama referring to a woman as "sweetie". If you didn't hear the story, a reporter interrupted a conversation that Obama was having with the President of Chrysler during his Michigan trip yesterday. Obama replied to her intrusion with, "Hold on one second, sweetie, we'll do a press avail". Now except for being impressed with his use of the word "avail", something you don't hear in everyday conversation (is that a media thing, short for available, or did he mean it as in "soon", like they say it at Medieval Times?), I didn't think much of the matter. But apparently the reporter did, because it's all over the news here in Michigan today.
I've worked with men, usually older, often from the south, who called me "honey" or "sweetie" and I never thought they were denigrating me or anything. In fact, I suspect most of them just couldn't think of my name at that exact moment. If the choice is "sweetie" or "hey, what's-your-face", I'll take the "sweetie", thank you, dear.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see any huge contradiction between my feminism and my preference to be recognized as a woman and to continue to receive the benefits that men afford women that they don't often grant to other men. I like it when a man holds the door open for me, or gives me a special greeting that he wouldn't give a man. I enjoy the rare night on the town when Mr. Brightstar comes around to open the car door for me. I'll even admit that I like getting the occasional once over and a smile from a man, as long as it doesn't pass over the threshhold to "creepy". If the price I pay for that is the odd "sweetie" or "honey", I'm not going to march in the streets against it. Maybe it's wrong to want to have my cake and eat it too. Maybe people need everything clear in black and white so that we don't get stuck on stupid in the grey areas.
Anyway, Barack (can I call him Barack?) left a voicemail that the reporter dutifully broadcast last night and posted to her station's
website:
"It's a bad habit of mine," he said in the voice mail, which is on the TV station's Web site. "I mean no disrespect, so I am duly chastened on that front."
I was hoping before this election ended that somehow, somewhere, Barack would call me "sweetie". As in, "Let go of my hand, sweetie, I need to move down the line now" as he gently but firmly peels my clenched fingers from his hand before the Secret Service moves in. Or maybe "I appreciate the donations, sweetie, but no, I can't come over for dinner next week". Or just "Hi, sweetie" and a big Barack grin. Now that damn reporter has dashed my dreams.
Oh well. I guess I'll have to stick to my dreams of getting out of Iraq and universal health care for all Americans.
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