# Obama is already starting to keep his campaign promises... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032 "2008-11-10T14:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nootlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@nootlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nootlin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/21 "2008-11-10T17:15:45Z")
Can they be trained, Nikita-style?? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/22 "2008-11-10T17:20:48Z")
> [@nootlin](#): > > Can they be trained, Nikita-style?? Probably. But none of them look as good as Bridget Fonda. Nowhere close. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/23 "2008-11-10T17:21:44Z")
Seems the Secret Service has dubbed Obama “Renegade”. So guess they are seeing it too. > [@](#): > > Tribune staff report > November 9, 2008 > > The Secret Service traditionally has given pithy, private names to those whose lives they protect. The monikers are a throwback to a time when electronic communications were not encrypted, and they no longer serve a security function. Still, they give an occasional peek at the players’ personalities, in addition to serving as great trivia questions. > > President-elect Barack Obama: Renegade > > Michelle Obama: Renaissance > > Malia Obama: Radiance > > Sasha Obama: Rosebud > > Vice President-elect Joe Biden: Celtic > > Jill Biden: Capri > > President George W. Bush: Tumbler > > First Lady Laura Bush: Tempo > > SOURCE: [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-obama\_code\_names\_bdnov09,0,7865884.story](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-obama_code_names_bdnov09,0,7865884.story) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/24 "2008-11-10T17:26:03Z")
Awwww…Rosebud! That’s such a sweet codename for a sweet kid. And Radiance is right, too…Malia’s going to be the very image of Michelle when she grows up. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/25 "2008-11-10T17:28:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 That’s not “Getting Stuff Done”?! …Yeah, I got nothin’. I guess I just associate the Bush administration with being opaque and obstructive. Nobody _else_ could get anything done with them around. Witness all the investigations they’ve tried so hard to stymie, all the secretive BS they’ve tried to get away with. Obama looks like he’s going to be the exact opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/26 "2008-11-10T17:32:11Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I don’t know about you, but if some fucked up government abducted me and took me from my home my family and my friends, and possibly tortured me for 5 fucking years I’d be out for vengeance. Oh yes, I would make them pay. Ok, I just realized this line would sound sooo cool being narrated by Ben Stiller for some future movie spoof. Rambo, except from the side of the wrongfully imprisoned Arab guy. Kicking American ass and loving it. Has this been done yet? Maybe I can sell the rights to Iran! ---
**Author:** ![nootlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@nootlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nootlin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/27 "2008-11-10T17:33:58Z")
I’m not checking but if McCain is Maverick, Palin is surely Goose. Released after 7 years without trial, without access to a lawyer etc. I’d want revenge. But possibly not against the entire USA and western world, but one particular man and members of his government. I’m thinking the lion with the thorn in the Aesop fable… hopefully. either way, you gotta knock down the dungeon. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/28 "2008-11-10T17:52:04Z")
> [@](#): > > No matter how hard you try, you can’t stop us now > No matter how hard you try, you can’t stop us now > > Since the prehistoric ages and the days of ancient Greece > Right down through the middle ages > Planet Earth kept going through changes > And then no renaissance came, and times continued to change > Nothing stayed the same, but there were always renegades > Like Chief Sitting Bull, Tom Paine > Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcom X > They were renegades of their time and age > So many renegades I can dig it. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/29 "2008-11-10T17:59:54Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Seems the Secret Service has dubbed Obama “Renegade”. So guess they are seeing it too. Previous code names have often been well-matched and in some cases even [prescient](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Service_codenames#Presidents_of_the_United_States_and_their_families). See “searchlight” and “lancer” for examples. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/30 "2008-11-10T19:53:54Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > …Yeah, I got nothin’. > > I guess I just associate the Bush administration with being opaque and obstructive. Nobody _else_ could get anything done with them around. Witness all the investigations they’ve tried so hard to stymie, all the secretive BS they’ve tried to get away with. Obama looks like he’s going to be the exact opposite. Yeah, to be honest you were pursuing a very weird line of thought. The Bush Administration actually **did an amazing amount of stuff** it is almost certain Bush did more while in office than any President since Reagan and most likely (hopefully) did more in office than any President in the near future will do. Now, the fact that a lot of what he did was controversial and some of it legitimately stupid is sort of unrelated to the sheer volume of things he actually did. Bush also worked with a rubber-stamp Congress for much of his Presidency–so he got quite a large amount of legislation through Congress in addition to all the executive decisions he made. “Politicking” usually means you’re working with other politicians (usually making compromises, agreeing to support some of their stuff that you aren’t necessarily opposed to in exchange for them supporting some of your stuff), building consensus, and generally swaying people to your line of thought so you can get things accomplished. By and large Bush dealt with a _very_ friendly Congress for most of his Presidency so he never really had to do this. Obama most likely won’t have to do this, either, at least for the first few years. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/31 "2008-11-10T22:47:59Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Previous code names have often been well-matched and in some cases even [prescient](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Service_codenames#Presidents_of_the_United_States_and_their_families). See “searchlight” and “lancer” for examples. [According to Ron Suskind,](http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2720825) Dick Cheney’s SS codename is “Edgar.” As in [Edgar Bergen,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Bergen) the ventriloquist. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/32 "2008-11-10T23:11:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [According to Ron Suskind,](http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2720825) Dick Cheney’s SS codename is “Edgar.” As in [Edgar Bergen,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Bergen) the ventriloquist. Is, uh, anyone we know codenamed Mortimer,as in Mortimer Snerd? ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/33 "2008-11-11T19:44:41Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Umm. Actually, he _has_ done something. **He established the ‘Office of the President-Elect’, complete with a fancy, official looking logo and everything.** (And a website! Can’t do anything without a website, you know.) > > Oh, and he completely ripped Nancy Reagan a new one. > > :rolleyes: I suggest you check out the _Presidential Transition Act of 1963_, which established the ‘Office of the President-Elect’. [http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?noc=T&contentType=GSA\_BASIC&contentId=24780](http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?noc=T&contentType=GSA_BASIC&contentId=24780) ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/34 "2008-11-11T20:11:56Z")
Am I the only one who hears “Rosebud” and thinks of Marion Davies’ clitoris? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/35 "2008-11-11T20:28:20Z")
> [@2sense](#): > > Am I the only one who hears “Rosebud” and thinks of Marion Davies’ clitoris? Not anymore… _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/36 "2008-11-11T20:34:12Z")
> [@2sense](#): > > Am I the only one who hears “Rosebud” and thinks of Marion Davies’ clitoris? No. But I also think of Marion’s budlet whenever I hear “Flexible Flyer.” ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032/37 "2008-11-11T20:39:14Z")
> [@2sense](#): > > Am I the only one who hears “Rosebud” and thinks of Marion Davies’ clitoris? I did, but only indirectly. Now I feel all weird, thanks for bringing that up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-is-already-starting-to-keep-his-campaign-promises/472032.md?page=1)