Will an airport be named after Obama?

1337Delta764 · Tue Apr 25, 2017 9:37 pm

There was the thread about PBI being named after Trump, however, does anyone think an airport will be named after Obama? Note that this is not a thread to discuss whether or not you supported Obama, however, but if you think an airport will be named after him.

It seems that the most common suggestions to name an airport after Obama are HNL and MDW, followed by ORD (although IMO the latter is unlikely due to the global recognition of the O'Hare name, and renaming it would cause a lot of backlash like the renaming of the Sears Tower did). There are even some petitions on the web to rename HNL or MDW.

Which airport do you think could be renamed after Obama?

TransGlobalGold · Tue Apr 25, 2017 9:42 pm

I would say MDW, Obama O'Hare doesn't roll off the tongue easily. Then again ATL is named after two persons However, I have always held the belief that naming airports, highways, etc. should be for deceased people, not living.

kiowa · Tue Apr 25, 2017 9:53 pm

We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

747megatop · Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:05 pm

1337Delta764 wrote:
There was the thread about PBI being named after Trump, however, does anyone think an airport will be named after Obama? Note that this is not a thread to discuss whether or not you supported Obama, however, but if you think an airport will be named after him.

It seems that the most common suggestions to name an airport after Obama are HNL and MDW, followed by ORD (although IMO the latter is unlikely due to the global recognition of the O'Hare name, and renaming it would cause a lot of backlash like the renaming of the Sears Tower did). There are even some petitions on the web to rename HNL or MDW.

Which airport do you think could be renamed after Obama?

My guess will be MDW. But i really hope they don't name any more airports after politicians. I do know thought that Obama and Trump will definitely have Aircraft Carriers in their names in the 2 or 3 decades. USS Obama and USS Trump.

BroadwayLimited · Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:11 pm

kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

Boy do I agree with that!!! If you are going to name a building after somebody, name it after a service person who died, fighting for our freedom. Never a politician.

NotDengXiaoping · Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:11 pm

I would say HNL before MDW- although either one I could see.

727200 · Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:24 pm

With all due respect the person named should not be living, had contributed to the benefit of society, and have obtained achievements that the nation is proud of and are constructive to society. Great scholars will debate the individual named as worthy of this criteria. In my humble opinion there is no airport even GS that should be named after THAT individual.

Citationguy · Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:27 pm

So then you guys disagree with the naming of JFK airport and such?

eal · Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:39 pm

There's been a couple of threads on this already and each one inspires the same non-constructive political vitriol. Mod's should lock the thread just like they did with the PBI Trump thread.

As far as my personal views, probably both Trump and Obama will get their own airports, every president since Kennedy (barring LBJ) got an airport named after them--regardless of their contributions to the country, I don't think any side of the aisle is gonna argue that Gerald Ford was exactly a great enough historical figure to get an airport named after him, but he was from Grand Rapids so the people from Grand Rapids want to honor the most important figure to ever come from/be associated with Grand Rapids.

TWA772LR · Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:53 pm

eal wrote:
There's been a couple of threads on this already and each one inspires the same non-constructive political vitriol. Mod's should lock the thread just like they did with the PBI Trump thread.

As far as my personal views, probably both Trump and Obama will get their own airports, every president since Kennedy (barring LBJ) got an airport named after them--regardless of their contributions to the country, I don't think any side of the aisle is gonna argue that Gerald Ford was exactly a great enough historical figure to get an airport named after him, but he was from Grand Rapids so the people from Grand Rapids want to honor the most important figure to ever come from/be associated with Grand Rapids.

I don't think Nixon has an airport. LBJ has a space center, though.

O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

727LOVER · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:01 pm

Citationguy wrote:
So then you guys disagree with the naming of JFK airport and such?

Still...no one's been able to explain this one to me

So I guess naming an airport outside the USA after a US president has been done before

I actually did a thread on this ages ago

1337Delta764 · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:03 pm

TWA772LR wrote:
eal wrote:

O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

Which is why many have suggested renaming Midway instead.

kabq737 · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:04 pm

kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

Yes!!!!!!!! Brilliant idea!!!!!

TheLion · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:05 pm

As much as I like and support him, I really hope not.

In almost every single case, in my view airports should never be named after politicians, nor anyone who is still alive, and especially not young (say olá Cristiano Ronaldo!). Except perhaps if you have an icon like Mandela or Roosevelt who were universally loved, but even then. For example, George Bush's tepid presidency never deserved Houston, Bill & Hillary (Little Rock) were both decent leaders, but are also still alive and are divisive, and the USA's capital airport after Reagan, a man whose policies helped gut a chunk of the country's industry? No way! Even Canada's generally well-liked PMs Pearson & Trudeau should never have had airports named after them.

Instead...name them after beautiful places, creatives, writers, or better, icons of history who really made people's lives better and fought for normal people. Politicians are there to serve the people, not for the glory and there's little greater glory than having something so prominent, well publicised and visited by so many people as an airport named after you.

kabq737 wrote:
kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

Yes!!!!!!!! Brilliant idea!!!!!

Agree 110% :thumbsup:

ifixbigjets · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:06 pm

kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

I agree with this^^

Cubsrule · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:11 pm

1337Delta764 wrote:
TWA772LR wrote:
eal wrote:

O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

Which is why many have suggested renaming Midway instead.

Most of the folks who talk about renaming MDW or ORD do not really understand Chicagoans' institutional aversion to name changes. Tom Ricketts, for all of his revenue-raising schemes, has not renamed Wrigley Field. Soldier Field does not carry a corporate name. Willis Tower has not stuck. I don't see Chicago politicians renaming either airport, and that's not a commentary on President Obama's politics or accomplishments.

EWRandMDW · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:35 pm

I hope that both O'Hare and Midway are left alone. O'Hare is named for a US Navy aviator who won the Medal of Honor defending his ship among other feats during World War 2. Midway is named for the Battle of Midway which the US Navy won despite being seriously outnumbered by Japanese naval forces. It is said the outcome of the Pacific war changed in our favor after that battle. Leave them alone!
My suggestion is that the main airport in Oslo, Norway be renamed for #44. After all, the Nobel committee awarded Obama the Peace Prize even though at the time he hadn't done anything to "earn" it!
As for JFK and New York... Why? He was a Bostonian. But NYC seems to claim things and people for itself even though the association is tenuous at best. RFK I can see, though. Maybe LGA can be renamed for Hillary?

ikramerica · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:40 pm

Rename Meigs field?

Revelation · Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:43 pm

747megatop wrote:
My guess will be MDW. But i really hope they don't name any more airports after politicians. I do know thought that Obama and Trump will definitely have Aircraft Carriers in their names in the 2 or 3 decades. USS Obama and USS Trump.

IMHO Trump will be as likely to have an airport or an aircraft carrier named after him as Richard Nixon.

TWA772LR wrote:
O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

Why not meet half way and call it O'Bama Airport? :-)

TWA772LR · Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:23 am

Revelation wrote:
.

TWA772LR wrote:
O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

Why not meet half way and call it O'Bama Airport?

I was waiting for someone to say that! :bigthumbsup:

PlanesNTrains · Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:24 am

Sometimes it doesn't get handled properly and/or the citizens simply don't want a change.

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/02/29/ ... 446878800/

KanaHawaii · Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:26 am

NotDengXiaoping wrote:
I would say HNL before MDW- although either one I could see.

That discussion happened about 5 minutes after Obama was out of office. The population in Hawaii is very divided on the question of renaming anything after Pres. Obama at this point and whenever something comes up, it typically is yanked back pretty quickly because of the divide in how people feel.

He might have been born and raised in Hawaii, but that does not get you the "beloved" moniker that some others in Hawaii get - like Sen. Dan Inouye.

ASQ400 · Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:29 am

TransGlobalGold wrote:
I would say MDW, Obama O'Hare doesn't roll off the tongue easily. Then again ATL is named after two persons However, I have always held the belief that naming airports, highways, etc. should be for deceased people, not living.

I think they used to only name them after dead people, but now they make exceptions for some reason. Reagan and DCA, Bush and IAH... the case could be made for Obama and MDW.

EA CO AS · Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:53 am

ASQ400 wrote:
TransGlobalGold wrote:
I would say MDW, Obama O'Hare doesn't roll off the tongue easily. Then again ATL is named after two persons However, I have always held the belief that naming airports, highways, etc. should be for deceased people, not living.

I think they used to only name them after dead people, but now they make exceptions for some reason. Reagan and DCA, Bush and IAH... the case could be made for Obama and MDW.

IIRC, there used to be a requirement to wait 5 years after someone passed before naming a landmark for them. The idea was to avoid knee-jerk reactions of getting caught up in the emotion following someone's death and hastily naming something for them, especially for political reasons, such as Squaw Peak in Phoenix being renamed for PFC Lori Piestewa less than a month after her death.

I would fully support legislation that no airport, federal building, or landmark be named for any individual until at least a year after they've passed.

B2468 · Wed Apr 26, 2017 1:04 am

I don't think anything should be named for Obama, simply because I strongly dislike naming anything after a person, living or dead, especially politicians...too much room for controversy. Airports should be named for the city and district/neighborhood in which they are located, like China and many other East Asian countries do.

Get peoples' names off the airports...get peoples' faces off currency.

gdg9 · Wed Apr 26, 2017 1:12 am

If memory serves, every former president from FDR to Clinton has an airport named after him, save Nixon. IAH of course for Bush Sr not Jr.

PlanesNTrains · Wed Apr 26, 2017 1:30 am

EA CO AS wrote:
ASQ400 wrote:
TransGlobalGold wrote:
I would say MDW, Obama O'Hare doesn't roll off the tongue easily. Then again ATL is named after two persons However, I have always held the belief that naming airports, highways, etc. should be for deceased people, not living.

I think they used to only name them after dead people, but now they make exceptions for some reason. Reagan and DCA, Bush and IAH... the case could be made for Obama and MDW.

IIRC, there used to be a requirement to wait 5 years after someone passed before naming a landmark for them. The idea was to avoid knee-jerk reactions of getting caught up in the emotion following someone's death and hastily naming something for them, especially for political reasons, such as Squaw Peak in Phoenix being renamed for PFC Lori Piestewa less than a month after her death.

I would fully support legislation that no airport, federal building, or landmark be named for any individual until at least a year after they've passed.

Which is exactly what happened in SEA with Henry M Jackson. I think the decision to rename the airport was made within days of his passing, and it flew about as well as a lead balloon. To their credit, they changed it back.

77H · Wed Apr 26, 2017 1:38 am

TWA772LR wrote:
eal wrote:
There's been a couple of threads on this already and each one inspires the same non-constructive political vitriol. Mod's should lock the thread just like they did with the PBI Trump thread.

As far as my personal views, probably both Trump and Obama will get their own airports, every president since Kennedy (barring LBJ) got an airport named after them--regardless of their contributions to the country, I don't think any side of the aisle is gonna argue that Gerald Ford was exactly a great enough historical figure to get an airport named after him, but he was from Grand Rapids so the people from Grand Rapids want to honor the most important figure to ever come from/be associated with Grand Rapids.

I don't think Nixon has an airport. LBJ has a space center, though.

O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

Not only that, but people in Chicago would more than likely continue to call it O'hare either way. I still know plenty of people who refuse to call the Sears Tower the Willis Tower.

77H

jfklganyc · Wed Apr 26, 2017 1:44 am

And yet your most famous skyscraper was renamed.

EA CO AS · Wed Apr 26, 2017 1:51 am

jfklganyc wrote:
And yet your most famous skyscraper was renamed.

Because money changed hands.

airplanedaj · Wed Apr 26, 2017 2:46 am

My expectation (no inside knowledge or anything, just a dumb guess) is that they will rename Terminal 5 at ORD for Obama, much like the TBIT at LAX. I see Midway as being too ingrained into Chicago vernacular to rename it. No idea about HNL though.

kngkyle · Wed Apr 26, 2017 2:50 am

I don't think either O'Hare or Midway will be renamed - both have a storied history under their current name and are ingrained in the public psyche. Chicago does have a habit of naming expressways after politicians - the Kennedy, the Eisenhower, the Dan Ryan, etc. The Obama doesn't sound quite the same though... so I don't anticipate anything in Chicago being named after Obama except for the Presidential Library, at least not for the next 20+ years.

scudrunner · Wed Apr 26, 2017 3:03 am

kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

Up here in Canada to, I always cringe a little when I read CYXE John G. Diefenbaker International Airport. Amazing that a politician arguably responsible for crushing decades worth of aviation technology and advancement in this country got an Airport named after him. Don't get me going about YUL and YMX.........

Back to Obama, I think its a matter of when not if he will get one named after him. It won't be anytime soon, probably a decade out at the earliest.

TWA772LR · Wed Apr 26, 2017 3:40 am

scudrunner wrote:
kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

Up here in Canada to, I always cringe a little when I read CYXE John G. Diefenbaker International Airport. Amazing that a politician arguably responsible for crushing decades worth of aviation technology and advancement in this country got an Airport named after him. Don't get me going about YUL and YMX.........

Back to Obama, I think its a matter of when not if he will get one named after him. It won't be anytime soon, probably a decade out at the earliest.

It's usually tradition to name something after someone when after that person is dead. There are exceptions however like DCA and IAH. Reagan died a little more than a decade ago, and Bush Sr. is still chugging along, as well as Bill and Hillary Clinton International Airport.

RWA380 · Wed Apr 26, 2017 3:41 am

727200 wrote:
With all due respect the person named should not be living

Don't say that to George Bush or the Clintons.

crownvic · Wed Apr 26, 2017 4:13 am

kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

I totally agree. We are on the verge of a complete meltdown in Las Vegas now, because one of the most disliked politicians of all time (Sen. Harry Reid), is about to replace the McCarran name at LAS. OK, most folks know that McCarran wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but if PC is going to force the dropping of McCarran's name, then it should just become Las Vegas Int'l Airport and not another crooked politician's name.

gregn21 · Wed Apr 26, 2017 4:44 am

What about Chicago Rockford (RFD)? Obama Rockford doesn't sound too bad.

JohnJ · Wed Apr 26, 2017 4:51 am

eal wrote:
I don't think any side of the aisle is gonna argue that Gerald Ford was exactly a great enough historical figure to get an airport named after him, but he was from Grand Rapids so the people from Grand Rapids want to honor the most important figure to ever come from/be associated with Grand Rapids.

Ford got not just an aircraft carrier, but an entire CLASS of aircraft carriers, named after him. I think that's a much greater honor than having a small or medium sized airport named after you.

blueflyer · Wed Apr 26, 2017 4:54 am

crownvic wrote:
I totally agree. We are on the verge of a complete meltdown in Las Vegas now, because one of the most disliked politicians of all time (Sen. Harry Reid), is about to replace the McCarran name at LAS. OK, most folks know that McCarran wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but if PC is going to force the dropping of McCarran's name, then it should just become Las Vegas Int'l Airport and not another crooked politician's name.

Tempest in a tea cup because this never happens...
Passenger: take me to the airport
Cabbie / Uber: which one?

b747400erf · Wed Apr 26, 2017 5:24 am

BroadwayLimited wrote:
kiowa wrote:
We need a law/amendment in the US prohibiting naming any public building or place after any politician. If a building needs to be named after a person, then it needs to be someone who benefited the public, not a politician.

Boy do I agree with that!!! If you are going to name a building after somebody, name it after a service person who died, fighting for our freedom. Never a politician.

What wars threatened your freedom? WWII is the last time I can think of. Pretending politicians have not done to serve the public is downright ridiculous.

b747400erf · Wed Apr 26, 2017 5:25 am

727200 wrote:
With all due respect the person named should not be living, had contributed to the benefit of society, and have obtained achievements that the nation is proud of and are constructive to society. Great scholars will debate the individual named as worthy of this criteria. In my humble opinion there is no airport even GS that should be named after THAT individual.

When you say with all due respect and you show no respect at the end, you are not using that phrase right, you are using it as an excuse to hide your hatred of someone. The seething anger against Obama usually comes from one type of person... with all due respect.

PanHAM · Wed Apr 26, 2017 6:26 am

Obama is Ok but you guys Need to be careful naming anything after Trump. The City or authority doing that would have to pay heavy royaltis for the use of his Name..

Alexdk · Wed Apr 26, 2017 6:30 am

TWA772LR wrote:
eal wrote:
There's been a couple of threads on this already and each one inspires the same non-constructive political vitriol. Mod's should lock the thread just like they did with the PBI Trump thread.

As far as my personal views, probably both Trump and Obama will get their own airports, every president since Kennedy (barring LBJ) got an airport named after them--regardless of their contributions to the country, I don't think any side of the aisle is gonna argue that Gerald Ford was exactly a great enough historical figure to get an airport named after him, but he was from Grand Rapids so the people from Grand Rapids want to honor the most important figure to ever come from/be associated with Grand Rapids.

I don't think Nixon has an airport. LBJ has a space center, though.

O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

LBJ has got a heliport in Houston. George W Bush also has nothing.

Redd · Wed Apr 26, 2017 8:04 am

727LOVER wrote:
Citationguy wrote:
So then you guys disagree with the naming of JFK airport and such?

Still...no one's been able to explain this one to me

So I guess naming an airport outside the USA after a US president has been done before

I actually did a thread on this ages ago

If you get a chance to travel abroad, pay attention to the names of squares and smaller streets and you'll find foreign (including American) names very common. There is a small square in Warsaw named after Herbert Hoover for example. Usually the named individual had some large impact on that given country or city. JFK's time had seen plenty of American action in South America, so it's not surprising that there is an airport named after JFK.

747megatop · Fri May 05, 2017 9:31 pm

Revelation wrote:
747megatop wrote:
My guess will be MDW. But i really hope they don't name any more airports after politicians. I do know thought that Obama and Trump will definitely have Aircraft Carriers in their names in the 2 or 3 decades. USS Obama and USS Trump.

IMHO Trump will be as likely to have an airport or an aircraft carrier named after him as Richard Nixon.

TWA772LR wrote:
O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

Why not meet half way and call it O'Bama Airport?

Now that you mention Nixon..you are right. It had completely slipped my mind that there is no Nixon International Airport; nor do we have a USS Nixon....LoL..and even if we had either then probably those would be impeached as well!

ER757 · Fri May 05, 2017 9:43 pm

kngkyle wrote:
I don't think either O'Hare or Midway will be renamed - both have a storied history under their current name and are ingrained in the public psyche. Chicago does have a habit of naming expressways after politicians - the Kennedy, the Eisenhower, the Dan Ryan, etc. The Obama doesn't sound quite the same though... so I don't anticipate anything in Chicago being named after Obama except for the Presidential Library, at least not for the next 20+ years.

About thew only one left is the Edens - you've got Kennedy, Eisenhower, Stevenson, Ryan, that pretty much covers the Expressways except for the Edens. I guess they could re-name a tollway though.

flyingturtle · Fri May 05, 2017 11:37 pm

Revelation wrote:
Why not meet half way and call it O'Bama Airport?

What did that Irishman ever do for the United States? :hissyfit:

I see that in Germany - that nearly every school is named after somebody. Heuss, Mommsen, Adenauer, Brandt, Humboldt... even when that person didn't have any connection to that place. But we Swiss are miraculously free of naming buildings after people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e ... f_airports might be an interesting list.

David

D L X · Sat May 06, 2017 5:43 am

1337Delta764 wrote:
TWA772LR wrote:
eal wrote:

O'Hare will never become Obama. The name O'Hare has become synonymous all over the world meaning the airport in Chicago. It wouldn't be wise to change it.

Which is why many have suggested renaming Midway instead.

Because "Obama" will never be confused with "o'hare."

c933103 · Sat May 06, 2017 5:44 am

Why always complicate airport names with name of people? Why don't just name them after their location?

448205 · Sat May 06, 2017 5:53 am

flyingturtle wrote:
Revelation wrote:
Why not meet half way and call it O'Bama Airport?

What did that Irishman ever do for the United States?

I see that in Germany - that nearly every school is named after somebody. Heuss, Mommsen, Adenauer, Brandt, Humboldt... even when that person didn't have any connection to that place. But we Swiss are miraculously free of naming buildings after people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e ... f_airports might be an interesting list.

David

I have noticed that as well. Konrad Adenauer kindergarten.. Did he go here? No. Did he ever visit? No. Did he even know it existed? Probably not.

Why.

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