The New Language Of Politics
Friday, February 15, 2008 Filed in: Ideas
Do you speak politics? People who work for Hillary
Clinton say they work in Hillaryland. But can they
speak Obama?
From what I can tell, Obama is not just the last name of Senator Barack Obama, presidential candidate. It's also a language.
For example, a Baractogenarian is an Obama supporter older than 21. If you're an Oama supporter and attend a campaign rally and have a drink to celebrate a victory, that drink is called a Baracktail.
From Obama Girl to ultra white housewives, voting age women seem to love the black man in Barack Obama. Passionate female supporters are called Obamazons.
The Senator is called a Barackstar instead of a rock star, his campaign is building not just momentum, but Omentum, and the zeal of his supporters is called, drum roll please-- Obamania. It's the national obsession with all things Obama. Get yours today.
Oprah Winfrey is guilty of Barackspolitation by publicly adoring the object of her affections.
What other candidate for President has evoked their own language? Have other candidates elicited phrases, good or bad, that stuck? A few come to mind.
Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He was the right wing candidate. "Goldwater: In your heart you know he's right." As in far right. He lost.
Richard Nixon claimed, "I am not a crook." He was.
The most recent President Bush is not much of a public speaker and has difficulty completing a sentence in public without stumbling over one or two malapropisms. They're now affectionately known as Bushisms.
Politics makes for strange bedfellows. Just ask Senator Larry Craig or former congressman Mark Foley. Both are forgettable because they never inspired a new language the way Barack Obama has.
From what I can tell, Obama is not just the last name of Senator Barack Obama, presidential candidate. It's also a language.
For example, a Baractogenarian is an Obama supporter older than 21. If you're an Oama supporter and attend a campaign rally and have a drink to celebrate a victory, that drink is called a Baracktail.
From Obama Girl to ultra white housewives, voting age women seem to love the black man in Barack Obama. Passionate female supporters are called Obamazons.
The Senator is called a Barackstar instead of a rock star, his campaign is building not just momentum, but Omentum, and the zeal of his supporters is called, drum roll please-- Obamania. It's the national obsession with all things Obama. Get yours today.
Oprah Winfrey is guilty of Barackspolitation by publicly adoring the object of her affections.
What other candidate for President has evoked their own language? Have other candidates elicited phrases, good or bad, that stuck? A few come to mind.
Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He was the right wing candidate. "Goldwater: In your heart you know he's right." As in far right. He lost.
Richard Nixon claimed, "I am not a crook." He was.
The most recent President Bush is not much of a public speaker and has difficulty completing a sentence in public without stumbling over one or two malapropisms. They're now affectionately known as Bushisms.
Politics makes for strange bedfellows. Just ask Senator Larry Craig or former congressman Mark Foley. Both are forgettable because they never inspired a new language the way Barack Obama has.
