Forget your Burmas; piss off, you whining Chinese quake victims! We've got real news here: Barack Obama called a woman "sweetie"!
Clearly, it was inappropriate for Obama to address the female reporter as "Sweetie." This trivializes her professional status and causes her colleagues to make "kissy-face" noises behind her back in the staff lunchroom.
Instead, he should have used one of the honorifics that women have earned by bringing their gentle, nurturing sensibilities to newsrooms far and wide:
Bitch. Barracuda. Shark.
(If you don't believe me, ask anyone who's worked in the business.)
It's somewhat reminiscent of something someone (I forget who, or in what context, so this quotation is approximate) said a few years ago:
"You have to remember, they [the Washington press corps] are probably the most cynical, hardbitten, foul-mouthed, hard-drinking group of people in America.(beat)
"And the men are even worse."
Judging by the reaction, he left off one critical adjective: "Humourless."