Poll Results: Most Appropriate Nickname For Our Esteemed President-Elect, The Honorable Barack Obama (Please Stand)
By Johnny Roosh
The Question: What Nickname Should A Conservative Blog Employ For President-Elect Barack Obama So As To Not Offend Our More Tender Readers?
“Oprah” by a slim margin.
HT Flash
November 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I went with “Mr President,Sir” but you could drop the Sir. BHO has a nice ‘W’ ring to it, so If I could have voted for more than one that would have been my 2nd choice.
I don’t have a problem with a little dig now and then, I just think that if you (the collective writers and SitO) are going to disallow the “I know you are but what am I” defense, then you shouldn’t hide behind it yourself. When you cross racial and uniformly offensive lines, and don’t even feel regret, doesn’t make me wonder, it makes me worry!
November 26th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I have used, in deference to folks that feel mentioning his full name is somehow racist, the appellation of B_O.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
OK, I’ll bite.
Why is “Obammy” racist? Or offensive?
Cleanse me of my ignorance.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I think I know, JRoosh — “Obammy” is redolent of Mammy, which brings up Al Jolson in blackface and Hattie McDaniel in “Gone with the Wind,” etc. After 70-80 years, apparently the statute of limitations hasn’t run on this stuff.
Am I right, Flash?
November 26th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
“apparently the statute of limitations hasn’t run on this stuff.”
You mean there is a statute of Limitations on common decency. Does that mean in another 20 or so years the ‘N’ word will be OK..
My mother taught me if you even have to ask if something is offensive, it probably is.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
So, Flash, where were you when the clown was making all those offensive remarks about Palin’s gender & her retarded kid?
I’m waiting for him to do it again so I will be justified in using a minor league race-based slur to describe Obama.
Fingers pointing back, pot & kettle, etc.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
You mean there is a statute of Limitations on common decency. Does that mean in another 20 or so years the ‘N’ word will be OK.
No, Flash, I mean that there are very, very few people around who even remember that stuff. The “N” word is still in very common usage, unfortunately.
Having said that, I try not to offend people unless they deserve it.
And Terry’s question is pretty apt, by the way.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I like Barry. It’s similiar to how the left refers to Republicans they hate by using a juvenile sounding first name.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
And as for “common decency,” I suspect it has gone to the same place where common courtesy, common knowledge and common sense have gone. More’s the pity.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I like
The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers”
but it’s probably too long.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Lessee….if I were to take lessons from the KosKids on this, I’d come up with:
Chimpy McRezkoburton
Obamitler
….and I think I’ve gone far enough, haven’t I? If liberals who used such terms for Bush complain about fairly benign things like “Obammy,” they really need to look in the mirror and point a few more fingers at themselves.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Obammy” is redolent of Mammy, which brings up Al Jolson in blackface and Hattie McDaniel in “Gone with the Wind,”
Flash – is that it? For gosh sakes I’m 43 years old. How old was I back then? I was only…not even born! You must be older than you look.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Ignorance is no excuse, JRoosh. Off to sensitivity training camp for you. Afterwards you may be considered for rehabilitation if your self-criticism sessions are judged sincere.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
“”:So, Flash, where were you when the clown was making all those offensive remarks about Palin’s gender & her retarded kid?””
I was on a self described hiatus from here. It was only a few days, I think, before the election that I returned and broke my silence.
“I’m waiting for him to do it again so I will be justified “”
Again, ‘mitch’ loves to jump on that behavior clearly sating that’I know you are but what am I” is NOT a defense. You either do something or you don;t based on principle, not based on vengeance.
So Mr. D, if we can convince ourselves enough people won’t know what it means, we get to return to it till they figure it out?!?
Chuck, Barry is his name, I don’t have a problem with it. In my early blogging days, before President Bush’s re-election, I fell into the trap of not calling him President, but then I realized it wasn’t the person that I was defaming, it was the office.
MoN: Perfect *laughing*
November 26th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
“You either do something or you don;t based on principle, not based on vengeance.”
Not vengeance but an object lesson. Clown needs to be hit on the head with a brickbat on occasion or he will think his obnoxiousness is actually ‘political discourse’. Part of keeping a fight clean is letting your opponent know that if you have to you can fight dirtier than they can.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Flash, have you started drinking today already? Or are you typing this from your Blackberry while slurping a Slurpee and driving at the same time?
I already fixed the punctuation and spelling of your last comment for you.
You get one freebie.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Bike Bubba:
Do you really want to use the Kos standard for the Right Wing Blogosphere. I thought you all were better than that.
JRoosh asks: “”Flash, have you started drinking today already?””
No, just thinking about the trip to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving. It has similar effects. Also dreaming about my Norm stool at Rock, which I hope to be perched on sometime around 5:30 this evening. First one is on me, Roosh, if you find your way to 9th and Hennepin.
Thanks for your generosity *smile*
November 26th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
So Mr. D, if we can convince ourselves enough people won’t know what it means, we get to return to it till they figure it out?!?
Personally, I don’t have any reason to use the term. Is it still offensive? Maybe.
True story: I’m a cradle Catholic and went through Catholic schools pretty much my whole life. I’m a copywriter and I used the term “hocus pocus” in an allusion to the old “Candid Camera” song for a camera I was marketing. We got a note back from a customer telling us that the term “hocus pocus” is an anti-Catholic slur. As it turns out, it was a slur on the Latin language in the Mass concerning the moment when, as Catholics believe, the bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Christ. The priest would say “hoc est enim corpus meum” and apparently an Anglican prelate back in the 1600s came up with the term “hocus pocus” to mock this belief. How many people know that? I didn’t. We don’t have Latin Mass in the Church much these days.
Is the “mammy” slur closer historically than “hocus pocus?” Yes. Would the average person necessarily know that? Probably not. And would they be offended? Maybe if they were willing to listen to Flash explain the matter long enough.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I actually would join you but I dont’ think I could make it back home in time for Thanksgiving service where my Jujubee is playing the bells.
I’ll take a rain check if I can.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Can I call him Ultimate Media Political Love-child without being disrespectful?
Honestly, the guy’s created some imaginary “Office of the President-elect” complete with seal and pomposity, er, pomp and ceremony, and his supporters think it has some actual power and function.
Will he be satisfied with merely being President of the United States?
Perhaps we ought to start thinking up new offices for him to occupy. How about, the Office of the Supreme Executive? Office of the Ultimate Unitarian Power Wielder?
November 26th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Flash; that was exactly my point. There is a fundamental difference here. Presidents like “Dutch,” the “amiable dunce,” “Jimmuh,” “Bubba,” and so on have always had nicknames to poke mild fun at the way they behaved. The names Roosh lists are in this category.
The Kos/Huffington/MoveOn/etc.. departs from this tradition. Not yet the right, at least until you get to the very far fringes. Unfortunately, one can’t say that Kos et al are that “fringe” for the Democrats these days.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
How about McCain forming the Office of the President Elect Runner Up?
Also, why hasn’t Jar Jar Binks come up as a possible cabinet member for Obama? He worked tirelessly for the Senate during the rebel uprising.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
“I’ll take a rain check if I can. ”
Of course, Jujubee’s come first!
Thursdays are usually the standard Drinking night, but we moved it to Wednesday, this week, for obvious reasons.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
What does it say on his Indonesian passport?
November 26th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
“The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers”
BINGO!!
November 26th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I think Barack Steve Obama’s the funniest one.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I have to admit, I cringe when I hear “Obammy”, & I’m “only” 37. Of course, I watched a lot of vintage Looney Tunes growing up, & there is no shortage of Al Jolson gags there.
I voted for OMG BFF, but that is more of a dig at the typical Obama apostle, er, I mean voter, than at Barry himself. I do like Barry, because it was the name he chose to escape the reality of who he really is, which is likely going to be the theme of the next 4 years… deny reality at all costs.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I’m going to use Mr. Obama. This is the template the Media established in firmly refusing to refer to George Bush as President Bush. If it’s good enough for Brian Williams and Keith Olberdouche, it’s good enough for me.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I think he went by “Barry” during his “blow” days.
November 26th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
“The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers”
It’s got my vote, now we just need to have JRoosh edit the poll to add it to the list of choices. That and “Barry.”
November 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
MoN did come up with the best one – “The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers” is really clever.
If that doesn’t work, Sparky is always a good nickname. Everybody knows someone named Sparky.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Can’t use ‘Sparky’. Rhymes with . . . a verboten word used to denigrate black people.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I think Obamullini is more appropo than Obamitler.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Flarky???
November 26th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
It looks by a small but sustained margin to be Oprahbama right now
November 26th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I haven’t voted yet. My populist tendencies could be manipulated.
Oh wait. I’m a conservative. Never mind.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Sorry. I shouldn’t have used the word ‘denigrate’. If you jumble up the letters in that word it look like another verboten word. With the way the PC police are these days you can’t blame me for being spooked . . . dang, did it again.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
How about “former President of the United State?” Of course, this moniker will take a little time. No one seriously wants to consider impeaching Barack just yet because A) he hasn’t actually assumed the office and, B) because of his presidential insurance policy – Joe Biden.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I guess I’m just not up on racial slurs. This line was on the opinion page of today’s Strib:
If he had said the “n” word or the “k” word or something else offensive regarding someone’s race, gender or religion, there would have been no question about whether to report him.
What the heck is “the ‘K’ word”????????
November 27th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Kike – an anti-semetic word.
November 27th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Master of Bation said: “The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers”
That’s pretty funny.
November 27th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Everybody knows someone named Sparky.
I don’t. Closest I’ve got is Clownie. As we say out here in Minnysoda, “same difference”.
November 27th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Kerm,
I know 3 people named Sparky. I’ll lend you one. Happy Thanksgiving!
November 28th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
YOu need a run off with the top vote getters… and B_O
November 30th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Roosh, I’m 44, and I knew “Mammy” and “OBammy” had too much illiterative tone.
BTW, MON, gee, let’s see, Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers, beyond being an exageration of unfathomable proportions, is patently racist as well. As if Barack Obama and an 18 year old Will Smith have ANYTHING other than their skin tone, in common. My God.
BTW – Roosh ‘offend our more sensitive readers’ – oh please, you crossed that line long ago with most of the sane folks, you’re changing so as to not look (patently) racist, you’re not changing to protect anyone but yourselves.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:05 am
What the heck is an ‘illiterative tone’?
November 30th, 2008 at 11:11 am
What the heck is an ‘illiterative tone’?
Other than “oddly apt?”
November 30th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Wow. “Retards Gone Wild”.
Paraphrased: “it rhymes with a word many would find racist, so it is just as racist”.
Could a person try _any_ harder to be offended? No, I don’t think so.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Roosh, I’m 44, and I knew “Mammy” and “OBammy” had too much illiterative tone.
Maligna, if I said the sky was blue you’d find a way to disagree with me, and somehow stretch it into a thousand words I might add.
Roosh ‘offend our more sensitive readers’ – oh please, you crossed that line long ago with most of the sane folks, you’re changing so as to not look (patently) racist, you’re not changing to protect anyone but yourselves.
…you wouldn’t know sarcasm or dry humor if it wet your pants. As if I am going to change now, let alone for the likes of someone with your perspective.
-actually, check that. I may sub Oprah for Obammy.
If we conducted another poll, we’d discover a supermajority of readers of this blog of the mindset that “most of the sane folks” is a subset distinct from one that would therein count you.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Roosh,
Maligna, if I said the sky was blue you’d find a way to disagree with me,
One day about a year ago, I wrote a post (can’t find the link) precisely to investigate that thought. It was perhaps the most innocuous thing I’ve ever written (something like “the sky was gorgeous today”), totally on purpose; there was literally nothing to the post but an innocuous “sky is blue” type of statement.
Peev wrote in with some kind of argument.
I kid you not.
I wish I could find the link.