Whoa Nellie
It’s stories like this one that, to me, make Bush seem like the typical schoolyard bully.
Sen. Ben Nelson finally has succeeded in getting President Bush to stop calling him by the nickname “Nellie.”
Bush had been referring to the Nebraska Democrat as “Nellie” since 2001.
Nelson disliked the nickname and had asked the president to stop using it.
The president likes to give people nicknames. He has called Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, “Pootie-Poot,” while aide Karen Hughes gets “High Prophet.”
But Bush heeded Nelson’s request to scrap his moniker, and at the recent White House Christmas party, the president referred to Nelson as “Benny.”
“The president had a twinkle in his eye when he called me that,” Nelson said. “He knew what he had done. I said, ‘Thank you, Mr. President.”‘
The difference, essentially, is that the bully is now wearing a suit and is in charge of the playground. I can’t imagine that Bush thought the Senator wouldn’t mind the nickname. After all, Nelly the rapper notwithstanding, “Nellie” is usually considered a woman’s name. The term “nelly” is also often used as a pejorative describing effeminate gay men (i.e. a “nelly queen”).
Even given Bush’s considerable intellectual challenges, I can’t imagine he was unaware of the implications of the nickname he gave the Senator, or the likelihood that it would cause the Senator discomfort. Still, he persisted in using it from 2001 until just recently, knowing that he always carries with him the weight and authority of his office, and that weight and authority might make the Senator a bit reluctant to ask the president to cease with the nickname. It’s a subtle, but effective, way of making one’s authority felt; in the language of the playground, it says “I’m bigger and stronger than you, and I’ll call you whatever I want. You can’t make me stop until I’m good and ready.” It took Bush a few years before he was good and ready.
I know it’s a small thing, really. But it’s an interesting peek in to the mentality of the man who’s going to be in the oval office for four more years.
Via Electablog
January 15th, 2005 at 6:31 pm
I wondered how Bush would feel if folks publicly called him “Shrub.”
January 18th, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Bush knows he has the biggest gun on the block, so he doesn’t really care.
His administration’s frat boy, corporate attitude disgusts me to no end.