Members of Congress can't spell new president's name Ron Brynaert

Published: Monday January 26, 2009





Print This Email This One would think that spelling President Barack Obama's name would be pretty easy for his former colleagues in Congress, especially after it's been practically everywhere the last year and a half.



"Members of Congress have had a lot of nice things to say about our new president, but many of them have had trouble simply spelling the guys name," Roll Call's Heard on the Hill gossip column reports.



The Capitol Hill paper notes that the website gooseGrade.com "released a study earlier this month finding that at least 60 million Web pages contain a misspelling of Democratic President Barack Obamas first name," so Roll Call "conducted a (highly scientific, natch) Internet search of Member Web sites on Friday to see if anyone had referred to the prez using two of the most common misspellings  'Barak' and 'Barrack.'"



And it's not just Republicans.



"Members who favored 'Barak' included Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), in a photo caption from Tuesdays inauguration; Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), in a press release on Obamas swearing-in; Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), in a photo caption from the inauguration (which has since been fixed); Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), in a Jan. 9 press release urging Obama to work with Republicans on tax cuts; and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), in a November 2008 statement congratulating Obama on his election victory," Roll Call reports.



Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) were all busted employing the name "Barrack."



At the very least, none appear to have confused him with the head of al Qaeda, as some in the media have, though, of course, sometimes that was done on purpose. But, most probably, Obama would laugh off the report and say that it was fine, as long as they keep calling him Mr. President.



