Can You Hear Me Now?

PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA visited the White House this week and met with current president George W. Bush.

Afterward, Obama flew back to Chicago, with a pack of media folks on the plane.

At one point, Obama was on a cell phone and reporters could hear him talking.

"I am not going to be spending too much time in Washington over the next several weeks," said Obama according to the Washington Post, adding that he did not want to "go lurching so far in one direction" and wanted to come up with "some good, solid, sensible options."

Should the Washington Post and other reporters have used that information?

It was not a private moment that was declared off the record. And the man is going to be president of the country in two months. Isn't just about everything he does newsworthy?

Or should he expect some level of privacy?

Would you have used the quotes?

Is This Offensive?

THE CHICAGO READER, an alternative weekly, ran the above image as their cover of the post-election issue. And as soon as it hit the streets, people freaked out.

"Callers told me we're assuming he'll screw up because he's black," Reader editor Alison True wrote.

Is the image going too far?

And what about the image below, which would have been their cover if John McCain won the election?

"The Next President" or "The First Black President?"

RACE HAS REMAINED an underlying issue during the presidential campaign that concluded tonight with the election of Barack Obama.

But does it diminish the achievements of president-elect Obama to label him as the "First Black President?"

On one hand, it is most certainly an historic event.

On the other hand, he wasn't elected because he is African-American. He was elected because the majority of Americans believe in him and his mission.

Should the media refrain from focusing on his race? Or should they champion the progress this election represents?

UPDATE: AN OP/ED WRITER IN the 11/9 Sunday Inquirer writes:

The ritual preface of the word black in front of every achievement or breakthrough by an African American is insulting, condescending and minimizes their achievement. It maintains and reinforces the very racial separation that much of America claims it is trying to get past.

Do you agree? Disagree?

From World Series to Two Years in Jail?

THIS IS NOT ANOTHER BASEBALL POST. This is a First Amendment situation.

Today, the Supreme Court will begin hearing a case regarding the FCC and their rules on "fleeting expletives."

Essentially, the case revolves around U2 singer (and new New York Times columnist) Bono. During the 2002 Golden Globes Award ceremony, which was broadcast live, he said, "This is really, really, fucking brilliant. Really, really great."

The FCC warned NBC, who broadcast the awards, that they could be fined in the future if something like this happened again. And they could face two years in prison.

Should Chase Utley go to prison for his "fleeting expletive" during the Phillies World Series celebration? Or is the FCC just trying to ruin the new Phillies dynasty?

Chase Utley: Role Model or Potty Mouth?

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, the media are the standard bearers of society when it comes to language. What is said regularly in print, online and over the airwaves becomes commonplace in public.

So what do you think about our World Series champion second baseman who dropped an f-bomb on live television (and live radio)?

Should someone be punished for this and if so, who?

(I promise this will be the last Phillies related post for a while)

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