I laughed. Sorry if I made it sound lame by saying “attempt”. That was a good one.
Going by their Google ads, it appears that Hillary wants to be on a first name basis with her peeps while Barack Obama is still a bit more formal.
Takes me back to J class and writing headlines. John Kennedy was JFK and Lyndon Johnson was LBJ because their initials took up less space, though they were less specific, while RMN never caught on for Nixon because it took up the same space while not being as clear.
And, as an NPR listener, I usually hear “Senator Clinton” and “Senator Obama.”
I doubt it. It’s more likely that it’s his bumbling way of showing that he’s “chummy” with them. For instance, I seriously doubt he’s trying to show disrespect towards Condi by calling her “Condi”. Same thing there. It wouldn’t make sense for him to want to show disrespect to his allies, such as they are-- Tony Blaire, for instance.
Really, this is only true for Hillary. And it started when she was first lady. And it’s confusing to just say “Clinton” because, well, remember we used to have another Clinton who ran for president? Everytime I see, “Clinton said such and such”, I have to figure out from context which Clinton they’re talking about. Sure, it’s the same for Bush, but Bill Clinton is a lot more relevant than GHW Bush. If someone says “Bush” you assume he’s talking about Bush the Younger. Not so with “Clinton”.
Right. Given how little experience we have with his personality and behavior, it’s better to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may not in fact have any particular issues around needing to dominate others and put them in their place.
Well, without going too deep this popped right up on MSNBC/Newsweek:
The Politics of Race
How will African-American voters respond to a Barack-Hillary showdown?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16155356/site/newsweek/
Every time I watch/listen to the BBC it is always always always “Mr. Bush” and “Ms. Rice” and “Mrs. Clinton”. Why can’t our journalists stick to a standard like that?
Some people think it’s excessively formal, and you don’t want to put off your readers. The New York Times is the only paper I know of that refers to people as Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. beyond a first reference. And sometimes that forces them to make silly errors, like referring to the late Iraqi dictator as “Mr. Hussein,” or referring to a current insurgent, using a nom de guerre, as “Mr. al-Iraqi.”
It may be excessively formal, but it avoids any sense of impropriety. And silly errors can be avoided if journalists and editors simply (and this may be a reach) did their effing jobs.
But in that context it’s parallelled to “Hillary.” It wouldn’t look right to use one last name and one first name. How often is “Barack” used independently?
I’ve dug through a mountain of references here in the print media and it’s almost always “Obama.” I went to your cited website, MSNBC, and searched for “Barack” and every single hit referred to his full name, “Barack Obama.” Here are the headlines that popped up:
What Obama’s Record Tells Voters
Obama: Values, Not race of beliefs, key to voters
Race Doesn’t Give Obama Edge In SC
Obama Re-apologizes for “Wasted lives” remark
Obama Has Multiethnic Existence In Hawaii
Obama Wants Troops Home By Spring '08
Obama Most Costly Freshman World Traveler
I dug through a variety of articles on MSNBC and found zero “Barack” references except the one story you cite (and you sure went past a LOT of stories to get there.) I then did the same on CNN, same results. FOXNews, same results.
Unless you can show us some real evidence this “Barack” thing happens more than once in a blue moon, I see no reason to believe it’s true.
Hmm. Well, ok, I’ll accept that my perception is skewed.
Be very surprised if you get off that easy. Anyway, welcome home.
Actually, they call him “Dubya”.
True.
My point was actually that the NYT style forces the paper to make those errors. Saddam didn’t have a Western-style surname, so they called him “Mr. Hussein” because people thought of it as his last name. “Mr. al-Iraqi,” which any idiot could tell you means ‘the Iraqi,’ is just stupid. There are other examples of this, I’m sure. I couldn’t tell you if the BBC made the same style choices.
Like others, I haven’t noticed Obama refered to his first name.
But it does bother me that Saddam Hussein is refered to as Saddam. Not that the man is deserving of respect or anything, but it strikes me as a tad bit familiar.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember her running under the name Hillary and only Hillary in 2000. Consensus at the time was that she wanted to distance herself from Bill.
Hugs and kisses, Darlink.
Why do these bastards deserve any respect? They’re just the hired help, not royalty.
And pretty cheeky, incompetent, and insubordinate hired help, at that!
Most of them don’t feel disrespected enough to want to quit the gravy train, anyway.
It happens to everyone. That’s why it’s nice to have a place like this where you can get other points of view.
Marc