The Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been variously characterised as the bright young hope of the nation, a know-nothing upstart and a rebel without a cause. But for the wired-up, sunglassed, lapel-murmuring men and women of the United States Secret Service, the senator from Illinois is known simply as ”renegade”, it was revealed on Sunday.
If Obama’s aim is to present himself as an underdog outsider running against politics-as-usual, the secret service’s codename could be a plus with undecided voters. But others in this race-sensitive country are certain to perceive a slight on Obama’s African-American background.
Secret Service agents seeking a pithy, private way of identifying and protecting the candidate as he zips around the country say the choice of ”renegade” is essentially no different from the tags chosen for past and present political high-fliers.
Former agents told the Washington Post that military officials chose the code names without particular reference to the characteristics of the politician. Despite such denials, the tags often appear strangely apposite.
The ex-Hollywood cowboy Ronald Reagan was known to his secret watchers as ”rawhide”, George Bush senior was ”timberwolf”, due possibly to his love of hunting. Jimmy Carter, a former Sunday school teacher, was the ”deacon”. The former vice-president Al Gore was ”sawhorse”.
Hillary Clinton, Obama’s rival for the party’s nomination, is ”evergreen”. Her husband, Bill Clinton, is ”eagle”.
Most intriguingly of all, perhaps, the current president, George Bush, is known to the secret service as ”tumbler”. – Guardian Unlimited Â