Sweating To The Zune-ies

My oldest boy sent me these links, pointing out that I had failed to pick up on the greatest controversy to embroil the Obama Transition – which, according to the press is the bestest ever. I’m talking about the dreaded Zunegate.

But when you get patted down by the Secret Service at the gym first thing in the morning, you know something’s up. I hopped on my usual treadmill and put on CNN. The news ticker scrolled frantically across the screen, as footage of the President-elect was shown over today’s topic — “Is Obama Black or Biracial?”

It wouldn’t be long before I could ask the man myself, as he walked majestically across the gym floor in his track pants and sweat shirt. I did a double take, and soon after that, looked around the gym to see if anyone else knew he was here. Nobody seemed to notice.

But he hopped on the machine next to me and broke a mean sweat while reading a copy of USA Today and listening to his Zune.

Yes, the author reported that Obama was – gasp – using a Zune, not an iPod. This has erupted – well in a few places – into an uproar.

Yesterday the Philadelphia City Paper ignited a controversy over the question, with a blog entry that included the innocuous detail that the President-elect was working out while listening to the Microsoft (not Apple!) music player.

But today a spokesman puts the vicious rumor to rest. “Not true, the President-elect uses an iPod,” he says. And the Philadelphia writer, Neal Santos, blogs today: “It could belong to one of the many Secret Service dudes that were at the gym, Michelle, or even one of his daughters.”

But getting back to the original report, I am not so much struck by the Zune versus iPod implications – as much as that might mean to some folks. What concerns me is two things from the original report. This line: “But as he walked away, wiping the sweat off his brow….” This negates the gushing, pre-election coverage from multiple sources that reported that Obama does not sweat, even when engaged in heavy cardiovascular-stimulating exercise. Another media failure, one presumes. But the other line that concerns me is this one:

“And OK, fine — I’ll admit that I creepily savored his treadmill after he left.”

That is past – far past – creepy and into stalking and/or fetish territory. One assumes that the next time the Secret Service will not be patting him down but wrestling him to the ground. Just in case.