Maureen Dowd: "Barry"

Yes, but we must not ridicule The Messiah.

 

Can the grown-ups talk, please?

 

There is nothing that will get me to discount your political opinion quicker than name-calling or cutesy nicknames. I see a "Barry," "Willard," "libs," "repubes," whatever, I'm done.

I will say this -- in most cases "W" didn't really annoy me, because I always took it as a shorthand way to differentiate Bush from his father.

 

He was called "Shrub" by Molly Ivins and others.

 

Yep - hated that.

 

To me, "W." is akin to "JFK" or "LBJ."

"Tricky Dick" and "Slick Willie" also seem to have been so widely used and accepted that a columnist with a particularly deft touch might be able to get away with it.

 

If all of that is the case, why should there be an issue with Barry?

 

What about Bubba?

 

Because "Barry" is not in wide usage, first of all. Second of all, "Tricky Dick" and "Slick Willie" were nicknames that carried implications about their personalities and governing styles.

Look, I get that you don't like the guy. That's fine. But it's low-rent for Dowd to diminish him with cutesy nicknames like that - essentially saying that his given name is some sort of affectation that he hasn't earned the right to utilize.

 

Yeah, depends on the context.

 

Maybe everyone should start using "BHO" for Obama and start referring to
Eric Holder as "Fredo".

 

That's BS for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is he used to go by Barry, no? Would you feel better if she referred to him as "Emperor Barack?"

And again, columnists have been "diminishing" presidents by using "cutesy nicknames" since the dawn of time. I'm pretty sure some used to demeaningly refer to Nixon as "Milhouse" even before Watergate. I can't remember any specifically for Carter, but if you went back and checked I'd be pretty damned shocked if every writer always referred to him as "President Carter" or even "Jimmy." Hell, they probably had one for George Washington.