# Obama on currency **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 27, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807 "2008-12-27T03:13:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/1 "2008-12-27T03:13:32Z")
It’s clear to me that Barack Obama will be forever revered as a great president unless he’s involved with something really really really horrible. So it’s inevitable that he will appear on our official currency at some point. I actually may not live long enough to see this, but I’m calling it here. So what are the guesses for his appearance on our currency? I’m thinking the $50, but it could also be the $1 coin (though this one might become unofficially reserved for non-presidents by tradition). Maybe the $5 note, given the comparisons with Lincoln and all. Any mindless pointless thoughts on this? ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/2 "2008-12-27T03:24:50Z")
I’m as big an Obama supporter as the next guy, but I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself here. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/3 "2008-12-27T03:32:28Z")
Exactly. At least wait until he signs the “Everyone gets a free hooker” act before proclaiming him a great president. Or, maybe just his inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/4 "2008-12-27T03:35:39Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > Any mindless pointless thoughts on this? How about a mindless pointless snark on the dollar: I bet he will be on the $500,000 note 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/5 "2008-12-27T03:51:41Z")
> [@NicePete](#): > > I’m as big an Obama supporter as the next guy, but I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself here. I don’t automatically think he will be a great president; I’m just confident he will be VIEWED as a great president, pretty much regardless of what he does…unless, its really really really bad ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/6 "2008-12-27T04:03:48Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I’m thinking the $50, but it could also be the $1 coin (though this one might become unofficially reserved for non-presidents by tradition). I take it that you are unfamiliar with the [Presidential One Dollar Coin series](http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/) that began last year? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/7 "2008-12-27T04:29:11Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > I take it that you are unfamiliar with the [Presidential One Dollar Coin series](http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/) that began last year? He’ll make that one in around 2050, assuming average age, etc. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/8 "2008-12-27T04:40:06Z")
> [@NicePete](#): > > I’m as big an Obama supporter as the next guy, but I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself here. Obama needs to die before he get’s put on our money. We don’t put living people on our currency; it’s much too monarchic. Didn’t a county in Alabama just declare his birthday a public holiday? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/9 "2008-12-27T05:33:26Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > It’s clear to me that Barack Obama will be forever revered as a **great president** unless he’s involved with something really really really horrible. > > So it’s inevitable that he will **appear on our official currency** at some point. I actually may not live long enough to see this, but I’m calling it here. > > So what are the guesses for his appearance on our currency? **I’m thinking the $50** Bolding mine. The current face on the $50 bill clearly indicates that you do _not_ have to be a great president in order to appear on the currency. Henry Adams summed up Ulysses S. Grant pretty nicely: > [@](#): > > He [Grant] had no right to exist. He should have been extinct for ages…That, two thousand years after Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, a man like Grant should be called—and should actually and truly be—the highest product of the most advanced evolution, made evolution ludicrous…The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant, was alone evidence enough to upset Darwin. From _The Education of Henry Adams_. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/10 "2008-12-27T06:00:11Z")
I’m sure a whole bunch of Republicans thought George W Bush was going to be a wonderful President, who would bring peace and prosperity to the great nation of America. Don’t hatchet your Counts before they chicken. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/11 "2008-12-27T06:15:04Z")
I’m all for replacing Jackson on the $20. He was a disgusting genocidal racist. I’d even settle for Reagan on it instead. But only so I could draw little Hitler moustaches on each one that passed through my hands. Oooo, that would be illegal! But I’d do it! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/12 "2008-12-27T19:04:19Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > It’s clear to me that Barack Obama will be forever revered as a great president unless he’s involved with something really really really horrible. Jesus Christ, he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet. How can he be “forever revered as a great president” when he hasn’t done anything yet? I would submit that unless he’s caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, you’d think he was a great president regardless. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/13 "2008-12-27T20:49:12Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Jesus Christ, he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet. How can he be “forever revered as a great president” when he hasn’t done anything yet? > > I would submit that unless he’s caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, you’d think he was a great president regardless. Yeah, though won’t the fact that he’s not white make him a notable president regardless of what actually happens between now and 2012/2016? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/14 "2008-12-27T20:57:56Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Yeah, though won’t the fact that he’s not white make him a notable president regardless of what actually happens between now and 2012/2016? Sure. He’s _already_ notable, for that very reason. But that’s quite different from “revered as a great president,” which is what the OP said. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/15 "2008-12-27T21:26:07Z")
Assuming he lives a normal lifespan, I wonder if we will even use currency by then. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/16 "2008-12-27T23:00:34Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Assuming he lives a normal lifespan, I wonder if we will even use currency by then. This is what I came in to say. Has anyone tried buying a plane ticket with cash lately? By the time he’s been dead enough to show up on a coin, it’ll be too late, and the Franklin Mint or the government of some micro-nation will be the ones offering the Obama Dollar on whatever we have that replaced the late-night infomercial back after the Purges of 2027. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/17 "2008-12-27T23:10:59Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Sure. > > He’s _already_ notable, for that very reason. But that’s quite different from “revered as a great president,” which is what the OP said. Fair point, but I was more thinking of the idea that he would be on currency. Perhaps he already has a start on other possible candidates because of his race. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/18 "2008-12-27T23:14:14Z")
No, and why would he? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/19 "2008-12-27T23:15:45Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Assuming he lives a normal lifespan, I wonder if we will even use currency by then. Sure we will, but physical currency like coins and notes will be a novelty for collectors. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807/20 "2008-12-28T00:05:36Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Yeah, though won’t the fact that he’s not white make him a notable president regardless of what actually happens between now and 2012/2016? No, because his race doesn’t mean one whit to me. It’s what he does as POTUS that will make the case. And he isn’t POTUS yet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-on-currency/478807.md?page=2)