Paul_Yates's Blog

Here in the new media age many of us in the media always remind ourselves that wearing a microphone can be dangerous. Opportunities have grown exponentially for inappropriate or otherwise unwise comments to enter the public realm. And many more people are recording at events public and private.

The lesson should not be lost on politicians either, certainly those who are running for high office. Just because an event was "off the record" or "closed" doesn't mean a verbal mistake will be protected from wide dissemination before a national audience that includes the voters of Pennsylvania.

Sen. Barack Obama has been reminded of this fact as he deals with the tempest surrounding his comments at a closed San Francisco fundraiser referring to the bitterness of economically distressed voters in small towns. His words were "elitist and divisive," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is leaping through the door opened by her opponent as the Pennsylvania primary approaches on April 22.

Sen. Obama later called the outcry a "political flare-up" and said he was talking about a "whole bunch of folks" who "feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they're going through." The impact of the "flare-up" will be debated for some time. One certain result will be the use of more careful verbiage even when among "friends."