What's with the "Mister Obama" on the news?

[eleny]

Earlier, I read a posting about Blitzer referring to the president simply as Barack Obama.

Now, on our local ABC station, the anchor called him Mr. Obama.

Am I off base at bristling over this? I sent our local person an email asking that she be more respectful and refer to him as President Obama.

[FrenchieCat]

1. It is hard for them.

[eleny]

3. Pfui

It was Anne Trujillo, btw. She's been around a long time and ought to know better. She'll write back to me, I'm sure. Denver metro is still small compared to other cities. I'm glad I wrote.

[mtnsnake]

48. Oh c'mon. They've done the same thing for every other president.

[my2sense]

2. I've been noticing this as well

Roland Martin wrote on his blog about it today:

http://essence.typepad.com/news/2009/01/his-new-name-is.html

[eleny]

10. Thanks for the link

I'm going to hold onto it and use it if I hear it again.

[onenote]

61. martin did not complain about people calling the president "mr obama"

He complained about people referring to him as "Barack"

Big difference. It is and always has been commonplace to refer to the president as "Mr."

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Nothing to get incensed about - they've done it for the last 8 years, at least.

All the networks (and newspapers I read) referred to Shrubbie constantly as Mr. Bush, as well. They might very well have done it with Clinton and those before; I don't know, I didn't pay much attention back when the country was being run well.

I don't know why there is this need to refer to the president as "Mr.", but don't let faux outrage over "Mr. Obama" give you a conspiratorial heart attack. It's really kind of silly.

[sandnsea]

9. They did

I first noticed it with Clinton. I don't recall before that.

[eleny]

11. My outrage isn't faux. I'm really ticked

But thanks for the thread kick.

[uppityperson]

18. I started calling mrbush "mr" after hearing it on the news yrs back.

ABC was the place I heard "mrbush" on.

[demokatgurrl]

46. I NEVER called him President, OR Mister

He was always Bush or something less kind, since I never considered him a legitimate President.

[riqster]

47. Same here

Presidents are ELECTED, not appointed.

[leftynyc]

35. As I understand it

he (and other Presidents) are only referred to President so and so once in a story. The rest of the time (whether a newspaper or newscast) he can simply be referred to as Mister.

[kskiska]

66. You are correct. It's the proper journalistic style.

Mayor John Smith on first reference, Mr. Smith or the mayor on the second

[SteppingRazor]

67. Actually, in proper journalistic style for everyone but the NY Times and a handful of others...

you don't even use the "Mr." on second reference.

[TTUBatfan2008]

54. I don't have a problem with "Mr. Obama"...

I do have a problem with "Barack Obama." They rarely, if ever, referred to W as George Bush. It was typically President Bush or Mr. Bush. I don't know if it's because he shares the same name with his dad who also happened to be President or what. But I've seen a lot of news anchors still referring to President Obama as Barack Obama when, in the same sentence, they'll refer to Bush as President Bush.

[MrSlayer]

5. "Mr. Obama" is perfectly acceptable.

It isn't disrespectful or improper to refer to the President as "Mr."

[eleny]

12. Thanks

[zbdent]

31. I remember MISTER Bush getting all uptight when some reporter referred to him as

"Mr. Bush" ... Dumbya got all huffy and demanded that he be addressed as "Your Royal Highness" ... actually, as "PRESIDENT" Bush ...

[Kalyke]

33. It's also correct via the AP Stylebook, the grammatical "Bible" for journalists.

President Obama, Mr. President and/or Mr. Obama - all acceptible.

Additionally, individual news organizations also set rules regarding courtesy titles. I used to work for a paper that called everyone Mr. or Ms. on second reference UNLESS they were a convicted felon - and then we only used their last name on second reference. Funny, huh?

[ecstatic]

58. Mr. President looks

kind of snarky in print but I'm sure I've heard it before.

[Deja Q]

56. I recall the same thing applied to Clinton, Bush, Reagan...

It's all good.

Though "President" is the best title... :)

[sandnsea]

6. Bush was called Mr. Bush

I don't recall him being called George Bush by the media though. Google it, you'll see.

Pushing the right wing talking points is more upsetting than what they call him.

[parasim]

7. The New York Times has always referred to a sitting president as Mr. (the president's last name).

I know I certainly didn't refer to Bush as "President Bush" his entire two terms.

[eleny]

14. We didn't use "President" around here because we didn't consider him legit

[LittleBlue]

8. "President" has become a tainted word over the last 8 years

It's hard to mentally adjust to calling someone admirable "President.

[NYC Liberal]

13. The president is always referred to as "President Name" the first time

and then "Mr Name" after then.

[eleny]

15. Do you mean in a news report?

[crispini]

55. I think Name has a good shot in 2016, myself.

:evilgrin:

[librechik]

16. AP Stylebook

Mister is perfectly acceptable as a title for President Obama as far as news scripts go.

Heh--the outraged letters we would get from Bush worshippers when we would disrespect their God by addressing him as Mister...

Don't let's do that.

[eleny]

17. Thanks, L

I expressed preference not outrage towards her. She already responded and was respectful right back.

[MichaelHarris]

19. There is

a News person in Spokane that does it also, she refers to him as Mr. Obama in every report she's ever done.

[relayerbob]

20. Considering we called Bush ...

Dubya, Chimp, Shrub, Idiot-in-Chief, Village Idiot and/or many other things much worse, I think "Mr" sounds fine

[WinkyDink]

23. "We" are not the national media, if you haven't noticed.

[auntAgonist]

21. NPR had a discussion about this a few weeks ago ..

They had a call from a listener who was upset about this very thing. They said (I'm sure they said it was their policy) that they always refer to the President as President *name* in the first instance and then as Mr *name* thereafter.

So,you'd hear " President Obama said xxx xxxx and then went on to say, .... xoxoxo. Mr Obama then spoke about ..." and so on.

:)

aA

[Digit]

22. I'm hearing just 'Mr Obama'

They need to begin using "President Obama" and drop the Mister....like NOW.

[saracat]

24. It is proper etiquette to refer to the President of the US as "mister." All presidents have been

referred to as such. It is the standard of address. Reporters customarily refer to the President as "mister" if using repeated usage of the President's name. Example:President Obama schedualed a meeting with his cabinet. Mr. Obama called the meeting to discuss the economy.

In direct spoken contact, the President is addressed as "Mr. President" In written correspondence he may be addressed either as "Dear Mr. President, or Dear Mr. Obama as the salutation.

[avaistheone1]

25. I always heard the major television outlets referring to resident Bush as President Bush.

Given Obama actually won the election he definitely should be referred to as President Obama by the media.

[Undercurrent]

26. For a long time,

the standard newspaper format has been been pretty consistent .

Here you can see (far right column) that in the actual copy (apart from the headline), that President Truman is first referred to as "President Truman", and "Mr. Truman" thereafter in the same article.

[Hekate]

27. It's a longstanding American custom dating back to Washington, I think. The Prez is not a King...

That was the sentiment of the Founding Fathers, in any case. We also don't curtsey, another royal custom.

Okay, okay -- I know there are a lot of American women and girls who, when they get all gussied up in formal attire, can hardly wait to swirl their petticoats in a curtsey if they ever have occasion to meet a royal personage. But that's just the enduring Cinderella fantasy, I think. And it is true that as time has gone by, certain American presidents have demanded more of the visible trappings of power around them.

But Mister President, or Mister Obama, is actually fine.

Hekate

[voc]

29. He should be called

President Obama by the MSM, Cable MSM always referred to President Bush as President Bush.

[Adelante]

37. That's just not true

All presidents, including President Bush, have been referred to in the press as "Mr." or "President."

[onenote]

63. the cable msm did not always refer to bush as "president bush"

If you make stuff up it should be things that no one can fact check.

Google "cnn transcript" and "Mr. Bush" -- get back to us after you've checked the 900,000 plus links.

[EraOfResponsibility]

28. Roland Martin talked about this very thing, and here's the audio link

Get it right, people. It's PRESIDENT OBAMA. Get used to it.

http://thisweekwithbarackobama.blogspot.com/2009/01/roland-martin-on-proper-protocal-for.html

[onenote]

62. martin talked about something completely different

Martin complained about people being referring to President Obama by his first name. He did not complain about the perfectly acceptable practice of referring to President Obama as Mr. Obama.

[cboy4]

30. You must have a lot of time on your hands.

[Clio the Leo]

32. Am I wrong to call him "Barack"?

The answer would be "no." :)

The man is the most humble person we've seen in the White House in 30 years. Biden and other members of the administration have caught themselves saying "Barack, I mean The President" and Biden even quipped, "I'm gonna keep calling him Barack!"

It's not a matter of disrespect, it just speaks to his familial nature.

He's just a cool dude. ;)

[Adelante]

34. It's normal, eleny, customary - not an insult at all

An example from 1942:

Mr. Mellon's mistake, the President is said to have told national leaders recently, was in removing the wartime tax load too soon, thus releasing a flood of surplus purchasing power which Mr. Roosevelt believes contributed to the 1929 stockmarket crash.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,849967,00.html


And 1994:

Comparing the attacks on Mr. Truman to those he now faces, Mr. Clinton said: "What did they say? 'Harry Truman's a radical liberal. He's for socialized medicine. He's for big government. He's going to take this country down.'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F00EFDD1439F932A05754C0A962958260


1913:

If a man means to be a scholar and a politician, too, he had best begin by being a scholar. With Mr. Wilson this was the natural road. ..It was solely to raise the intellectual standard of the students that President Wilson first introduced into Princeton those thoroughgoing reforms in education which, by a kind of fatalistic stride, led him far beyond his earlier purpose and brought the college to the brink of democratic revolution.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/191303/woodrow-wilson


Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan, etc. all referred to interchangeably as "Mr." or "President." (It's the same for Senators and Congress Members, btw.)

Exceptions would have been made for Generals like Grant or Eisenhower.

[acmavm]

36. The refer to when he outlines his plans as a 'pitch'. They talk about

him like he's a low class salesman. And they do it purposely, for tthree reasons. One: They have no integrity and they're not afraid to let that fact show. Two: They want to denigrate him, to make him seem as a lesser person than that criminal AWOL simian that we just got rid of. Three: They want to make their fans happy.

[nc4bo]

38. Yesterday - Poppy Harlow not once referred to the POTUS as

Mr. Obama, Mr. President nor President Obama. (Poppy Harlow: http://www.timeinc.net/fortune/information/presscenter/cnnmoney/bios/CNN_Harlow.html)

She was discussing the economic stimulus package and the economy in general.

She said "Obama" at least 10 times in 2-4 minutes.

Is it nitpicking or should the M$M be reminded of proper etiquette?

[Adelante]

39. Nitpicking, imo

He should be referred to in the same forms used for previous presidents by the media, whether that is "President," "Mr." or surname. We don't need to be demanding special treatment for President Obama. Equal treatment is what is called for.

[nc4bo]

41. For some reason I can hardly remember M$M calling the shrub Bush.

Mr. Bush, Pres. Bush, all the time but just "Bush" - for some reason it just doesn't stand out.

[Adelante]

45. In my lifetime I can remember presidents referred to by surname

Eisenhower as Eisenhower. Truman as Truman. Kennedy as Kennedy. Nixon (the scumbag) as Nixon. Clinton as Clinton. And so forth. I think "President" or "Mr." is most common, but surname is used, too. Specifically about Bush, perhaps having two President Bushes so close together may have made distinguishing between them matter enough to affect the usage.

[Drunken Irishman]

40. For eight years I've heard "Mr. Bush"...

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p="Mr.+Bush"

It's nothing new.

[traxster]

42. Hopefully they are just trying to get used to it

It took them several days to stop saying President-Elect Obama. But they better get with it. I have never heard Bush called Mr. Bush. It was either "President Bush" or "Bush." Pat Buchanan just called him Barack on Morning Joe this morning.

[Eric Condon]

43. Maybe I'm completely wrong about this

But I've always interpreted it as being kind of symbolic to refer to the president as "Mr." as a sort of signifier that he's just an elected servant of the people, rather than having to call him "His Majesty" or some other kind of regal title. I thought it was a point of fact that Americans can address the president with the exact same title that he or she could expect in return.

Believe me, I can understand the suspicion that the M$M would call him that as a form of disrespect, but I don't think that's what's going on here. Furthermore, it seems to be president-specific. I don't remember him ever being referred to as "Mr. Obama" during the campaign, it was always "Senator Obama." But with the president, I feel like it's a title that indicates courtesy but also the awareness that the president is supposed to be, at the end of the day, "one of us," so to speak.

Am I completely off the mark here?

[traxster]

44. This is an excellent point

And a perspective that I had not thought of. I don't think you are off the mark at all.

[Adelante]

49. You are absolutely right about presidents

But legislators, too, are referred to as Mr. or Mrs. (as well as by title of office).

For example:

President Obama, it seems to me, has the right to serve the country in the order he sees fit and in the order of his own choosing. What he, Mr. Holder, Mr. Reid and Mrs. Pelosi cannot do morally or legally is stop or block justice.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-cusack/two-questions_b_156845.html


In fact, legislators are often addressed in congressional records/transcripts as "Mr." or "Mrs."

Example:

http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=240692

[KalicoKitty]

51. That makes sense, but it has been eight years since I have used the title "President"!

Also, I am once again flying Old Glory with pride!

:patriot:

[KalicoKitty]

50. I've noticed that too!

:wtf:

[Puzzler]

52. I dunno...

... I'm pretty sure that the news often referred to Bush as "Mr. Bush". However, I think much of the time they'll open the report by saying "President ___" and subsequently use "Mr. ___" for the remainder of the report. It may simply be a style issue.

[EffieBlack]

53. I'm not sure about the networks but most

newspaper have a stated style for addressing public officials that they ise consistently. For example, the New York Times always refers officials, including the president, after the first reference, as "Mr" or "Ms." The Washington Post refers to the president and other officials by their last name.

[Clear Blue Sky]

57. It was Mr Bush too.

[Occam Bandage]

59. It was, and should be, Mr. Bush. He is Mr. Obama. His predecessor was Mr. Bush. nt

[mwooldri]

60. Until Obama gains legal British citizenship and HM Queen Elizabeth II gives him a title...

he'll be Mr. Obama.

Chances of the Queen giving him a title? I'd say pretty good, if only an honourary one.

Chances of President Barack Obama holding dual UK/US citizenship? Slim to none.

But if our President did gain UK citizenship and if the Queen gave him a knighthood,

then that will be Sir Barack Obama to you, and Lady Michelle Obama as well.

Mark.

[bdamomma]

64. we should bombard them with e-mails when they do not give

President Obama the respect he should get.

[Adelante]

65. It is not disrespectful that a president be referred to as "Mr."

It is, in fact, traditional throughout our history. Let's not turn our president into a victim here. Let's not embarrass him with a bombardment of emails based on misunderstanding of the form of address protocol. Every other president of the republic has been called Mr. and he should be accorded the same respect.