>>>The reason he said "sweetie" is less relevant than the reaction it produced, and the sense of marginalization it reinforced.
http://tinyurl.com/3v25o7

To win the nomination, Obama has also demonstrated that he will embrace anybody that helps him further his career. Then after many years of working with these people, he pretends to know nothing about them.  That says a great deal about his character and judgment. (And I guess you would be opposed to Jim Webb as a running mate if you are going to frame McCain's military service as only "dropping bombs" on people LINK - Webb won the Navy Cross for his actions on a search and destroy mission where people were killed).

Obama has built his campaign on a personality, not on issues.  Personally, I don't trust him to have my best interest at heart - whether it comes to reproductive rights, ending the war in Iraq, dealing with leaders of foreign governments, the economy, the environment, or a whole host of other things.  So in reality, while I won't vote for McCain, no one yet has made a credible convincing argument that McCain would be so much worse or Obama would be so much better.

McCain has said he wants to get rid of signing statements and wants accountability to the Congress by implementing a "question time". Obama said he wants to keep mercenaries like Blackwater in the mix. It's a mixed bag when talking about judgment. And we know who wins the experience argument, hands down.

The likely choice isn't between an Obama checked by a Republican legislature or McCain aided by a Republican legislature.

The likelier choice is between Obama -- who I do not believe is ideologically acceptable as a progressive leader (on vital issues of economic and social issues, issues of vital importance to women and the working class) -- with a rubber stamp Democratic congress, or an equally unacceptable (for differernt reasons) McCain checked by an opposional legislature.

Given that I believe that both of these men, for very different reasons, are terrible choices for the presidency at this time in our history, and that the election of either is likely to have tragic outcomes, I would prefer to have the one in power whose power, and long term influence, will most likely be checked by a strong oppostion.

I am thoroughly disgusted by the rampant sexism and misogyny we have all been witnessing.  

But as for November: I have always been a firm believer that in this flawed two-party system, one has to make a choice.  The Presidential election is a zero-sum gain in this country.  If you vote for A, then B loses your vote.  If you don't vote for A, then in effect B gains. I think that as unpalatable as it often is, one has to recognize that in this system, there are only two viable Presidential nominees at a time, and one has to choose.

but will think long and hard".

And who cares? if that's all we do.

Nobody.

Well it is important that you give all your power away to someone else before you actually use it.

Really. Keep pushing the "Clinton supporters are racists" and "Clinton deliberately panders to racists."

"And equating hard-working with being white wasn't racist.  I get it now."

Sorry, but the vast majority of racists left when the Dixiecrats walked out of the '48 convention, and the rest left when JBJ signed the civil rights bill.  You're about 60 years too late.  Unless you're one of those Republican who keeps claiming "The Democrats are racists because Robert Byrd is a Senator!"

I've been called "honey," "sweetie," "darling" and worse. But never by a man who wanted my respect. The men who call women those names are generally oily and disreputable. Even used car salesmen have learned to call women by their names, to call them "ma'am," or to call them nothing at all.

"Sweetie" puts a strong woman down. It diminishes her to a doughnut.

You've got to wonder where a 46-year-old Harvard-educated attorney picked up such a bad habit and why he has not yet set it aside. You have to wonder if it remains handy, quick and easy as a wink, to remind the women he meets who's still in charge.

But I don't mind being called sweetie, or honey, or honey-baby.  I think no offense is intended, and certainly none is taken on my part.  And I find it friendlier than "sir"...that's one term I'd rather not be called.  But when I am I'm certainly not offended.  

Another of my customers, a Vietname Vet, flies off the handle when you call him sir.  I did it once, and only once, when I first started this job and he nearly bit my head off.  "Don't you ever call me sir, I'm an enlisted man!!!" he goes.

You're liable to get your head bit off.

I'm like Groucho Marx...I wouldn't be associated with any group that would have me as a member.

However, my husband never would be so unwise as to use it in the workplace here in the Midwest, where he has been for decades.  So has Obama.  Does he do "sweetie" throughout his Hyde Park neighborhood?  Ha.  And I hope he did not do it in his law school classes, which are to be conducted to prepare for a professional environment.  Did he use "sweetie" in court to another lawyer or to a judge?  Ha, again.

So no excuses about his background; he's not a Southerner.  And even they, like my spouse, have learned to adapt to where they live and work, and Obama now is working in (almost:-) every state.  He ought to be using the opportunity that a campaign provides not just to talk at people but to listen and learn about life in every state.

I just hope we all can will look at context and demeanor before jumping down somebody's throat...I'd imagine "sweetie" and other such slang greetings can be demeaning or not depending upon the all important context.  For example, one can say "thanks a lot" and literally mean that or if sarcasm is detected it means "thanks for nothing".  Tone, context, demeanor....all come into play.

And it absolutely has racial connotations.  That's because those were the people who were actually lynched...  People wouldn't say it about Bill Clinton, and if they did, that would still be WRONG.  Just like KO talking about going into a room with Hillary and one not coming out.  Anything that threatens someones life is waaay off limits.  And this one specifically refers to a way that blacks were killed.  Nooses are still hung as an intimidation tactic.

The campaign went to obvious pains to stack his backdrop with white women (middle aged and older) that Obama is hoping to lure back after having alienated and offended them.

The constant use of "well, look..." is bad enough.