Andy Rooney on Presidential Nicknames

We don't always get to call ourselves by the name we like best and for some reason there are fewer nicknames for women than there are for men. I like the name "Andrew" but most people call me "Andy." I like "Andrew" and don't particularly care for "Andy," but what am I going to do about that?

Last week I read a headline that called Obama "the Pothole Prez" because he wants to spend 50 billion to fix our roads.

It's dumb and I don't think "Pothole Prez" is a name that'll last.

"Honest Abe" was a good name for Lincoln although I'd be surprised if he was actually called that very often.

"Tricky Dick" - Richard Nixon. No one would call him that to his face of course but he must have heard it and hated it.

After he was elected for the fourth time, people who didn't like Franklin Roosevelt called him "King Franklin."

Jimmy Carter was "the peanut farmer." Bill Clinton, "Slick Willie."

John Adams was fat, they say people called him "His Rotundity." Grover Cleveland was "Uncle Jumbo." William Howard Taft, "Big Bill."

People liked all these men enough to elect them president. I don't know why they gave them such mean nicknames.

Andrew Jackson, was known as "Old Hickory," Martin Van Buren, "Old Kinderhook." That's where he came from, Kinderhook.

Obama has been president for more than 18 months now and we still don't really have a good nickname for him. I don't know why that is. Most of us like him enough to give him a funny name.

If I was president, I'd like to be called by my real name, so just call me "Andrew."

Written by Andy Rooney