Americans weary of "bittergate" can rejoice. It's time for "sweetiegate."The presidential election has veered off onto another odd tangent, courtesy of Sen. Barack Obama, who uttered not an epithet or insult against blue collar workers — but a term of endearment. Yesterday, 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, followup 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 after Mr. Obama during a morning campaign appearance at a Michigan auto plant, demanding to know what he planned to do for Detroit auto workers. "Hold on one second, sweetie, we're going to do — we'll do a press avail," he said, casually implying that he'd 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.