Hold The Obama Name Change

At least one school is having second thoughts about being renamed in honor of soon to be President Barack Obama.

A proposal to change the name of a Long Island public school to Barack Obama Elementary was scrapped this week after running into fierce public opposition.

Cristobal Stewart, a trustee of the school district in Valley Stream, first broached the idea of renaming the Clear Stream Avenue Elementary School in November to commemorate Obama's electoral triumph.

But the plan was met with loud resistance at a Nov. 24 hearing. Town residents and parents argued that the existing name, in place since 1924, represented a long and proud tradition that shouldn't be tinkered with.

Stewart argued with several people during the heated gathering and insisted that many parents in the ethnically diverse school supported the plan.

But he abandoned the campaign Monday during another public hearing that drew 70 people.

"We listened, we discussed it, we decided against it," said board member Elise Antonelli. "It's not happening.

It's one thing to name the school after Obama has actually done something as President, but it's quite another to name it after a person whose only accomplishment to date is merely being elected President.

Let's see if people have the same impression of Obama in four years time after the varnish and glow of the hope, change, and empty sloganeering wears off.

UPDATE:
Don Surber notes that another Long Island school made the name change official.