Finally the President is doing something for the little guy out there – by unilaterally changing the name of a national landmark to support a platform of indefinite social change and the dissolution of unwanted historical reality(ies).
On Aug. 31, Obama called for Mt McKinley, the 20,000 foot mountain and tallest peak in North America to be renamed “Denali” through regulatory means. The name apparently translates to “the great one” in a regional indigenous dialect, which has, in turn, stirred up a decent amount of satirical jabs.
The move has reportedly left many Ohioan lawmakers – and citizenry – quite upset, considering who President William McKinley was. A Ohioan by birth, the late 19th century Republican president was, as many know, eventually assassinated in 1901, which would give President Theodore Roosevelt his initial shot at the oval office.
Setting all that aside, it seems a little baffling that President Obama would make a grand example out of this, to socially engineer the way that he has. Of course, a progressive ‘tip of the hat’ to get people fired up in advance of a trip seems like a fitting Obama-ism, but I personally did not see this one coming.
If Mt McKinley had been some big representation of the Old South, with a gigantic Confederate Flag at the peak of the summit, then yes, I could see Obama rewriting the history books right now, but what many people don’t know is that President McKinley is actually a decorated American Civil War hero who fought for the Union. Yes that’s right: the guy fought tooth and nail to end the institution of slavery, so he checks out on the not-racist criteria of maintaining a right to be historically recognized.
Still not convinced? He was vocally opposed to the lynching movement that has taken the South by storm in the years following the Civil War, and would eventually go on to defeat Democratic populist and known anti-Semite William Jennings Bryan for the presidency in 1896 and 1900.
One would think that in the wake of all of the polarization President Obama has orchestrated over the past year, as well as the staunch opposition he has lead against unsavory domestic history, that he would stop to recognize an example of tolerance which he’s apparently trying to find (fabricate). But as it’s come to my attention that the people of Alaska had previously called for (in a legislative process) the name to be changed to ‘Denali’ decades ago, but then blocked at the federal level, I do feel for the people of Alaska on this one to an extent.
However, like it or not, this a mountain in a US national park – and at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what the state thinks or feels. Plus, when has President Obama ever cared about the will of the States before? It’s not like the guy has stuck up for the states who (still) call for needed federal support to curb illegal immigration on the border, or for states who wish to not adopt his policies on healthcare or education.
So we can disguise this whole story as a victory for the little guy/for the state, or we can see this for what it really is: executive recklessness used to rile up the people against a common (non) enemy.
In other news, the Chinese navy is reportedly 16 nautical miles off the coast of Alaska, and a Russian spy vessel was spotted off the coast of Georgia this week. Too bad President Denali didn’t have anything to say about those two minor incidents.
