Mr. Obama

[W_HAMILTON]

I was listening to Morning Joe, and Mika was reading an editorial that mentioned "Mr. Obama." This was something I had been meaning to post about before, but I forgot all about it.

Is this viewed as derogatory? I assume it is, because I usually can successfully predict how the rest of the commentary is going to go when I hear someone begin with "Mr. Obama." I don't remember too many uses of "Mr. Bush" back during the previous administration. Why not just say "Obama," or -- if you are going to use a title anyway like "Mr." -- use his actual title: "President Obama."

What are your thoughts?

[Richardo]

1. I'd rather hear 'Mr. Obama' than just 'Obama'

Absolutely nothing derogatory about it. (BBC refers to all world leaders in this fashion, BTW)

[lunatica]

2. President Obama sounds pretty good to me

I try to use it at least part of the time. But I don't see anything wrong in saying just Obama. It's not insulting since everyone is called by their last name. It's also a literary thing. In articles it's customary to refer to a person's title or as "Mr." or "Mrs.", etc., and the full name at the beginning and thereafter use only the last name.

[tishaLA]

3. the NY Times, for example, writes...

President Obama when they first mention him and switch to Mr Obama every time thereafter. It doesn't have anything to do with ideology necessarily, but with the journalistic style of the publication. Many other newspapers, on the other hand, first refer to him as President Obama and thereafter simply as Obama.