At least one California liberal seems pretty sensitive to my use of Barrack Hussein Obama’s full given name in my posts.  Dan Chmielewski, the guru of The Liberal OC Blog, recently said, "someone needs to tell Jim Lacy that “Hussein” means “handsome one” or “beautful one”; I’m only suprised that he didn’t call Senator Obama “Barrack Hussein Osama.” 

     Excuse me, but a birth certificate is a legal document, this is still a free country governed by a Constitution that ensures my right to Free Speech, I am a lawyer, and if the guy’s name is Barrack Hussein Obama, then I can say it, without incident, no matter what implication the liberals fear is drawn from it, "handsome" or otherwise.

     But I do think it is a little fun to speculate about how the press corps will be handling Obama’s name should he be elected President.  For example, there is a fairly long history of the press using initials to refer to a president, the first, middle, and last initial, in communications, especially headlines.  For example, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was "FDR," John F. Kennedy was "JFK," Lyndon Baines Johnson was "LBJ."  These initials also carried themselves through until after their presidencies, into memorials, and, thus, in Manhattan there is an "FDR Expressway," in New York there is "JFK International Airport," and in Austin, Texas there is the "LBJ Library." 

     I recall reading that Richard Milhous Nixon didn’t much like the idea of being refered to as "RMN," as president, and he put it out to the press that "RN" would just be fine with him.  But the press was never going to use his initials.   He was always plain-old "Nixon."  President Clinton was pretty much the same, though the full "William Jefferson Clinton" would appear in the press from time-to-time, including nifty documents like "The Official Report of the Independent Counsel’s Investigation of the President."

     How will the press refer to a President Barrack Hussein Obama?   If they use initials, will they use all of them, as in BHO?  Or, given the push back from his middle name, will they simply refer to him as B.O.?  Thus:  "There is too much pollution in the world and we must stop it, said B.O. today."

     I suspect they will be just fine with "Obama."  And there may be a chance someday that Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will come to be referred to as simply "Obama," (and not Barrack Hussein Obama International Airport).

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.