Mister Obama?

[merhawk]

Perhaps I'm missing something; however, I always thought that once you earned your title of President, Senator, etc, that title is always used. So, dear Renee Montagne of NPR, why were you calling President Obama Mr Obama over half the time this morning? Why was it, during the campaign, that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were the two that kept

Comments

[scifantasy]

Without knowing details, some sources (such as The New York Times) introduce a person in an article with his or her title, and then in subsequent references use "Mr." or "Mrs." or "Ms." or whatever the short form is. That is, an article will open "President Obama..." but later say "Mr. Obama." It's a stylistic element.

But they do that across the board, because it's a convention. I don't know about NPR's conventions. (I'll also cut a speaker more slack than a writer; there's more room for error.)

[skwidly]

I heard NPR specifically address this shortly after the inauguration; they have always followed this policy.

[merhawk]

Huh. I kept trying to remember if they did this with Bush, and my brain said, "No, they didn't".

Augh. Oh well. I still don't like how they do it, though. Other sources have been much worse about things like this.

[lbmango]

I've been wondering about that for a while...

I was EXTREMELY annoyed that Clinton was "Hillary" just about everywhere, but Obama was "Obama". Are we really on a 1st name basis with Secretary Clinton? But none of the others? Really?

[slothman]

Given that even her bumper stickers said “Hillary”, that didn’t trigger my double-standard detectors. If she had kicked Bill to the curb in 2000 and become Senator Rodham and had “Rodham” on her bumper stickers, then having all the talking heads use her first name would’ve set them off.

[lugonn]

I didn't hear the story, but perhaps she was referring to Obama from an earlier time and wishes to emphasize the distinction? "When Mr. Obama first entered college he ..." I believe that would be allowed. But if she's referring to his current life as Mr. Obama, then that's wrong.

[skwidly]

As I said above, this is, and has been since the Ford administration, their policy:

http://www.npr.org/ombudsman/2009/01/mr_obama_mormons_and_susan_sta_1.html

[cheezstk]

I heard NPR address this, actually, in response to a listener query. IIRC, the NPR policy is to call the President "President Obama" the first time he's referred to in a section, and "Mr. Obama" thereafter. They followed this policy with Bush as well, and presumably with every other president.