'I Think We Need to Behave'

Well, that should go for the entire media, not just minority journalists.

Since the media horde slobbering over Barack Obama has already sunk to new depths this campaign cycle, I doubt the reception he gets at this Unity event will be any less shameless.

CHICAGO - When Barack Obama ascends the stage Sunday at the Unity journalism convention, fresh from an exhaustively chronicled overseas tour, he will face a surprisingly divided audience.

Not on the subject of whether Obama should be president — members of the four minority organizations that comprise Unity are largely Democratic. But many at the quadrennial gathering differ on whether the underlying current of enthusiasm for Obama's historic candidacy should be constrained or allowed to spill forth on live television.

In addition to race, the issue boils down to questions of human emotion, empathy versus ethics, and whether a group that has experienced its own share of prejudice can resist responding to Obama's powerful oratory and potent symbolism.

"This is not a pep rally," said Tonju Francois, a producer for CNN en Espanol and board member of the National Association of Black Journalists. "I don't want to say it's offensive, but the idea that just because he's a black candidate, somehow our journalistic ethics would go out the window ... I think we need to behave."

SUre. Good luck with that.

Well, I figure there won't be any brawls, at least, but expect the usual: fawning, drooling, panting, and fainting at the mere sight of The Obama.