Monday, April 26, 2010

Why did Obama Choose This Codename?


Obama the Renegade...
by Don Frederick

Renegade is Obama’s Secret Service codename.

From Webb Garrison’s book, What’s in a Word?:

“During the Crusades an occasional Christian deserted and joined the Muslim army. Some of the men were greedy for reward while others were fugitives from European justice. In order to be fully accepted by their one-time opponents, such fellows usually adopted the faith of Islam. From a Latin term meaning ‘to deny,’ Spanish churchmen framed renegado as a label for the man who denied his faith.

The English borrowed the vivid title and modified it to renegade. For three or more centuries the term was commonly used to designate the occasional turncoat who denied his religion for profit. At the same time it was applied to a deserter of any type.

The term of contempt was on the verge of dying out when it was revived by novelists who wanted a suitably vigorous name for a white man who deserted to the Indians during frontier warfare. Made prominent by western stories and movies, the term renegade has entered half the major tongues of the world.”

Obama himself purportedly chose his codename…

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