Careful about making jokes about doing awkward things. In our experience, (and the President’s), you might just end up eating your words. You may recall that, back in 2009, President Barack Obama commented on the controversy surrounding the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, offering his take on what would happen were he ever to get locked out of the White House. Because it’s not like that would ever happen… Except for that time he totally DID get locked out of the White House.

2009 has been a year of controversies. Some of them were big, like Climategate. Some of them were not very big, but were nevertheless blown up by blogs and cable news, like Jackass-gate, when President Obama referred to Kanye West as a “Jackass.” Many were united by that ever-persistent “-gate” suffix. In this slideshow, Mediaite fondly looks back on a year of -gates (and wonders if it’s time to give the “-gate” suffix a rest):

Last week, Mediaite asked you who was the top online editor of 2009. This time around, we’re recognizing sites which are too vast and ambitious in scope to describe in terms of the work of just one editor. You know the drill, loyal, smart, and attractive readers: below is a list of our nominees for the top site of 2009, including The Business Insider, Ars Technica, and Talking Points Memo. Vote for your favorite, or leave any deserving candidates you think we left out in the comments:

When Andrew Breitbart launched Big Government in September, we asked if he was gearing up to be the next Arianna Huffington: an opinion blog rainmaker with a one-stop digital powerhouse, but presented from the opposite end of the political spectrum. Three months later, hyperbole has become reality as Breitbart is adding to his network of vertical blogs, starting with Big Journalism, which will launch in January. In an exclusive interview with Mediaite, Breitbart shared his vision for his expanding network of “Big” right-of-center sites:

As the Obamas settle into their Martha’s Vineyard vacation this evening, the press is out in full force to cover each and every detail. Geraldo Rivera has been on the scene in all weekend – and last night he scored an “unexpected exclusive” with Prof. Henry Louis Gates.

In a short interview while Gates sat on his “kind of a tricycle, kind of bicycle,” the Beer Summit Harvard prof talked health care, Sergeant Crowley and more.

Oh Maureen. Did you run out of things to say about the “beer summit”? Or Obama’s fly-swatting skillz? Last I checked, the world is still blowing up — or maybe there’s a temporary lull. But Maureen Dowd thinks the soon-to-be-forgotten souffle of the moment, Julie & Julia, by deadly director Nora Ephron, is occasion for us to be treated to Ms. Ephron’s deep thoughts about food. Priorities!

In today’s cutthroat media environment, stories break fast and spoil faster. It doesn’t take long to go from big news to scraps of news to contrary opinions that seem cooked up solely for shock value. News Decay charts the strange and rapid declines wrought by the 24-hour news cycle.

At 5pm today President Obama will be meeting Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. Crowley for the much-hyped “Beer Summit.” But today also marks the 40 day anniversary of Neda’s death. Neda, you may recall, was the young Iranian woman who death during last month’s sweeping election protests was captured on video and watched around the world. Will today also mark Iran’s reemergence as a headline dominator? Or will beer and Birthers continue to rule the day?

Move over gentleman there is another wronged party in this whole Gates mess. Lucia Whalen, the woman whose phone call alerted Cambridge police to the fact that two men were attempting to break down the door at the Henry Louis Gates‘ residence, held a press conference today to clarify her role in the whole confusing, sordid affair and in so doing made everyone else’s less clear.

Mediaite has obtained a transcript from former Sec. of State Colin Powell‘s interview on CNN’s Larry King Live tonight, in which Powell comments on the Professor Gates story, as well as Sarah Palin and more.

He seems to take Sergeant Crowley’s side.

On Friday, President Barack Obama surprised the Washington Press Corps with an impromptu jacking of the daily press briefing. The president “recalibrated” his statements after some caterwauling from … ahem … everywhere. He called the arresting officer a good cop. He wanted to take back the “stupid” comment and reassure everyone that he had no idea his little statement would obscure his health care initiative.

The President made a surprise appearance at today’s White House Press briefing to address the uproar over his comments about the arrest of Skip Gates at Wednesday’s press conference. The President described a phone call he’d had with the arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley. They apparently spoke for awhile, and the President even suggested that [...]

Just like President Barack Obama spent the majority of his prime time news conference talking health care before touching briefly on the Gates-gate situation, Jon Stewart spent a significant portion of his first segment talking about health care and closing it out with a focus on Gates.

And just like in Obama’s case, Stewart’s Gates take was the most newsworthy.

News reporters like to catch readers’ attention with a few zingy lines at the start of an article. Sometimes, these so-called “ledes” go horribly wrong. Here we highlight some of the biggest offenders:

What a difference a day makes. We started the day speculating that the Obama-Gates story was the main takeaway from last night’s press conference, and have ended it, after a blaze of media coverage, wondering whether this whole thing is about to turn into something Obama can’t easily brush off. Or maybe he doesn’t want to.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., renowned Harvard professor and frequent Oprah Winfrey guest, was arrested at his home early yesterday morning under charges of disorderly conduct. Or at least that’s the version of the story that first hit the AP. The version that’s since come to light is vastly different. Get ready, this is one of those stories that once the cablers pick up could likely dominate the airwaves for the rest of the week, if not longer.