NationStates Jolt Archive

The US secret service is reported to have assigned president-elect Barack Obama the code name 'Renegade'.

This is in keeping with a tradition since the second world war of ascribing code names to presidents.

While the White House nor the Obama camp is unlikely to confirm them, such code names are seldom regarded as closely guarded secrets and quickly leak out.

The Chicago Tribune, Obama's hometown paper, reported on its website on Monday night that wife Michelle has been named 'Renaissance', and their two daughters, Malia and Sasha, have been given the designations 'Radiance' and 'Rosebud'. It is no coincidence that they all begin with R.

The vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, has his Irish background recognised with the code name 'Celtic'.

The secret service has said in the past that such names are chosen on a whim. Among previous presidents, John Kennedy, in keeping with the labelling of his White House 'Camelot', was named 'Lancer', and Reagan 'Rawhide'.

Why bother assigning code names that are so easily leaked?

Seems to be a case of boy war games to me, talking into the microphone and saying 'Renegade is on the way' sounds way cooler than 'The President is on the way'.

What do you think are the most fun aspects of becoming president, getting your own 'code name', riding Air Force One, sitting behind the oval office?

What would you most enjoy?

The power trip would be excellent.

I thought the exact same thing, it's hilarious.

Out of your options, Air Force One would be so fun. Flying in that much luxury? Ahh, good.

either having your own plane with fighter escort, or reading top secret files.

I suspect being president sucks.

You have to get up at the crack of dawn. You're followed everywhere. Everyone is always demanding your attention. As far as I know, the staffers frown on the president working in his pajamas. I don't need to be frowned on, dammit. Personally, I think the decor in the post-Kennedy White House is ugly as shit -- it looks like a hotel, for crying out loud.

I suppose the food is probably good. And then there's that bowling alley Eisenhower put in. But that's about it.

I hear Camp David is so luxe it could spark a revolution if the taxpayers ever got a good look at it, but meh -- somehow, from living in New England, I got partially possessed by the ghost of a die-hard puritan yankee who is dis-impressed by ostentatious displays of luxury.

Nuking Belguim would be sweet.


Belgian scum.

Why bother assigning code names that are so easily leaked?

Seems to be a case of boy war games to me, talking into the microphone and saying 'Renegade is on the way' sounds way cooler than 'The President is on the way'.
Has to do with Radios not always being perfectly clear. Certain sounds tend to become distorted easily.The Pr sound in particular is a sound you want to Avoid as it distorts easily. Then if you do for one president you should do for all of them just to stay in the habit (hence why you don't have last names used).


What do you think are the most fun aspects of becoming president, getting your own 'code name', riding Air Force One, sitting behind the oval office?

What would you most enjoy?

Ability to push button and end the world.

Nuking Belguim would be sweet.


Belgian scum.

I will call off the nuking of Belgium for a case of beer from Belgium.
make that a weekly tribute.

I will call off the nuking of Belgium for a case of beer from Belgium.
make that a weekly tribute.

Why call it off? German beer is superior.

Judging by Lewinsky, the interns aren't worth the bother...

Having access to Top Secret files would rock. I'd call Coast to Coast AM and say I was about to reveal the truth behind Area 51, and suddenly pull the phone cord out of the wall in the middle of a sentence.

"Well, I don't know if I should tell you this, but the Greys are really here to-"

Nuking Belguim would be sweet.


Belgian scum.

I will call off the nuking of Belgium for a case of beer from Belgium.
make that a weekly tribute.

By Zarquon, you two watch your language!

Has to do with Radios not always being perfectly clear. Certain sounds tend to become distorted easily.The Pr sound in particular is a sound you want to Avoid as it distorts easily. Then if you do for one president you should do for all of them just to stay in the habit (hence why you don't have last names used).

I officially accept this answer, stamped with a presidential seal of approval.

Why call it off? German beer is superior.

Wrong. besides the greedy Germans would send over Bitburger. The worst beer on the planet.
I swear Germans are the new jew.

I will call off the nuking of Belgium for a case of beer from Belgium.
make that a weekly tribute.

Fuck beer is the win.

Fuck beer is the win.

Who let you off your Island.

Who let you off your Island.

We've got a new PM..

All about change and stuff.

Dude, Bruges is so toast. Bastards have it coming, too.

Oh, and Koreans are the new Jews. Germans are the new Indians (At least, that's what they're aiming for, we never can tell how these things will turn out)

Dude, Bruges is so toast. Bastards have it coming, too.

Oh, and Koreans are the new Jews. Germans are the new Indians (At least, that's what they're aiming for, we never can tell how these things will turn out)

Koreans have always been the Jews of Asia.

We've got a new PM..

All about change and stuff.

Well bush has just ordered him to put you all back on your island so back you go.

I can't believe my eminently studious thread is degenerating so, oh the humanity!

Looks like nuking Belgium and reading top secrets are favored activities of NSG, go figure.

Hey, you started it; once you bring up the subject of popping off those darn Belgian bastards you have to know what to expect (Afterall, you know what they are like)

Hey, you started it; once you bring up the subject of popping off those darn Belgian bastards you have to know what to expect (Afterall, you know what they are like)

See, if I was President I wouldn't tolerate 'you started it' arguments, I'd have nuclear weaponry at my disposal, that and a well-arched enquiring eyebrow.

Yup, I'd be liking me some power trip too.

Hey, you started it; once you bring up the subject of popping off those darn Belgian bastards you have to know what to expect (Afterall, you know what they are like)

Yeah we all start trying to find ways to blackmail them for beer.

Why was I too young for the rhinoceros party?

well it does all seem kindof silly certainly, at least on the surface, but i see it as a way of helping to keep people who'se job it is, particularly those escourt pilots and their ground support and so on, from gettin all freeked out, with gosh wow, like rupture of the deep or something, when its their turn to stand honor gaurd and all that sort of thing.

i don't see the job of president as a fun thing at all, and i think anyone who persues it, all about their own ego, is exceptionally dangerous and probably shouldn't be trusted with it.

what would i consider the best perk?

well i suppose having all those resources to insulate you from distractions when you really need to be paying attention to what you are doing, and of course to impliment directly many of the kinds of conclusions you come to.

many more though, most even, depent upon your persuasiveness with others, that's really the biggest part of the job, or the second biggest part of the job, that the proccess of getting elected does tend to pretty much guarantee SOME degree of, although i think a bigger part of the job, is, or ought to be, the degree of good sense with which WHAT to persuade is arrived at.

Is there some reasoning behind these names?

Yes I know their was one for Biden but what about the others?

What do you think are the most fun aspects of becoming president, getting your own 'code name', riding Air Force One, sitting behind the oval office?

What would you most enjoy?

I would enjoy having a personal and well designed nuclear shelter.

I would never nuke Belgium. I mean Belgian chocolate, Belgian Pale Wheat Ale, Hercule Poirot - no, can't nuke Belgium. Nuke France instead - the cuisine is going downhill and so are their wines. The don't make beer at all and their fictional detectives are boring.

I would never nuke Belgium. I mean Belgian chocolate, Belgian Pale Wheat Ale, Hercule Poirot - no, can't nuke Belgium. Nuke France instead - the cuisine is going downhill and so are their wines. The don't make beer at all and their fictional detectives are boring.

While I agree with the notion of nuking France not all of their fictional detectives are boring. Are you forgetting Inspector Clouseau

It would have been better if they just went the whole nine yards and made his codename 'Maverick.'

Has to do with Radios not always being perfectly clear. Certain sounds tend to become distorted easily.The Pr sound in particular is a sound you want to Avoid as it distorts easily.

I officially accept this answer, stamped with a presidential seal of approval.

That's the way I've always understood things to be. I'm just having a hard time reconciling it with the choice of "Renaissance", since it seems to me that's a word that could get easily lost over a dodgy radio link.

---

Why bother assigning code names that are so easily leaked?
Fluff stories. Keeps us all interested and talking about stuff without actually giving us something to get worked up about.
</conspiracyNut>

Nuking Belguim would be sweet.


Nah, I like my Vlaamse frieten well fried, but not that well!

I suspect being president sucks.

You have to get up at the crack of dawn. You're followed everywhere. Everyone is always demanding your attention. As far as I know, the staffers frown on the president working in his pajamas. I don't need to be frowned on, dammit. Personally, I think the decor in the post-Kennedy White House is ugly as shit -- it looks like a hotel, for crying out loud.

I suppose the food is probably good. And then there's that bowling alley Eisenhower put in. But that's about it.

I hear Camp David is so luxe it could spark a revolution if the taxpayers ever got a good look at it, but meh -- somehow, from living in New England, I got partially possessed by the ghost of a die-hard puritan yankee who is dis-impressed by ostentatious displays of luxury.

Yeah, it figures... (http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/black_man_given_nations)

If my code name was Renegade I would insist on everyone calling me Renegade all the time.

Has to do with Radios not always being perfectly clear. Certain sounds tend to become distorted easily.The Pr sound in particular is a sound you want to Avoid as it distorts easily. Then if you do for one president you should do for all of them just to stay in the habit (hence why you don't have last names used).


Ability to push button and end the world.

This and also the fact that in diplomatic situations you could have more than one president in the same place (G8 meetings come to mind).
And it is good strategy to keep control of what the others are doing so that your president doesen't get involved in a security emergency involving other peoples presidents (say a chechen attacking Medvedev at said summit).

If my code name was Renegade I would insist on everyone calling me Renegade all the time.

LOL Raines/Vince Black for President AND Vice President

Renegade (TV series) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(TV_series))

LOL Raines/Vince Black for President AND Vice President

Renegade (TV series) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(TV_series))

Not this (http://www.phoenixgraphix.com/amc/7003jrg.jpg) one?

I would never nuke Belgium. I mean Belgian chocolate, Belgian Pale Wheat Ale, Hercule Poirot - no, can't nuke Belgium. Nuke France instead - the cuisine is going downhill and so are their wines. The don't make beer at all and their fictional detectives are boring.

Untrue. Pelforth Brune is not only French, it's tasty.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2251/2394490610_c24ec2c3c7.jpg?v=0

Of course, it is certainly abnormal, and the French seem to love such horrors as 1664. Even more horrifying is Hyper-U's (a supermarket chain) store brand swill. Of course, all that being said I can't distinguish it from such American crimes as Bud, Miller or Coors.

Knowing my luck, if I was President my code name would be "Cripple" :(

Also, being able to take AF1 anywhere I go, and reading the top secret files.

I choose none of the above.

Personally, as President, I think I'd enjoy my title as Commander-In-Chief the most.

I would exercise my rank to order that the Armed Services organise Dictatorship-Style Military Parades and gunnery salutes in my honour, which will take place at 12:00 on the occasion of most national holidays.

Yeah, it figures... (http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/black_man_given_nations)
Precisely. I class it as one of those "jobs Americans don't want to do."

If my code name was Renegade I would insist on everyone calling me Renegade all the time.
Also, this^^.

Precisely. I class it as one of those "jobs Americans don't want to do."

THAT explains the rumors that Obama isn't really an natural-born citizen - he wouldn't want the job if he was legally qualified :p

Knowing my luck, if I was President my code name would be "Cripple" :(

If you were president, and i was head of Secret Service, I would tag you as 'Neo'.

I often think you have great potential Wilgrove, more than anyone you should understand that people do judge a book by its cover. I can't pretend to know what it's like but I can envision feeling judged constantly, of desiring to have that freedom to judge in return.

Most of us are too lucky to even realize it, we can ghost through life, others have a responsibility to bear, whether one's unique by being president or unique in other ways.

It's always in how one uses the position one's in, not the fact that one's in that position.

Be excellent :)

The best part giving the state of the union address. I'd just read from Proust for an hour and a half and finish up with "any questions?"

The reason why the military does those things is because it doesn't make sense. That's it. Secrets out! The Military does those things because IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL!!!

Why bother assigning code names that are so easily leaked?because some idiots don't know what the word 'Secret' means.

Seems to be a case of boy war games to me, talking into the microphone and saying 'Renegade is on the way' sounds way cooler than 'The President is on the way'."Renegade is entering the building." "Renegade is preparing to go"... yeah, I can see your point.

What do you think are the most fun aspects of becoming president, getting your own 'code name', riding Air Force One, sitting behind the oval office? hmmm...
http://labbratz.comicgenesis.com/

What would you most enjoy? inviting my friends over to play "Axis and Allies" in the "War room", "Call of Cthullu" in the White House Library, and other such games in appropriate rooms. ;)

Dudes have been kidnapped by ninjas! Are you a bad enough president to save them?

..sorry, my mind is wandering, seeing as that comes form the game Bad Dudes not the game Renegade...