Amid the government shutdown that could soon become one of the longest in history, a looming October 17 deadline when the Treasury will loose its ability to continue to borrow money to finance the government and possibly default on the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt, President Barack Obama found time to weigh in on the debate over the name of the NFL football team, the Washington Redskins.
Obama in an interview with The Associated Press said he would “think about changing” the Washington Redskins’ name if he owned the football team. He added that team names such as the Redskins offend “a sizable group of people” and while fans get attached to the names, nostalgia may not be a good enough reason to keep them in place.
Lanny J. Davis, the attorney for the Washington Redskins, believes that the President needs to brush up on his facts surrounding the team name. In a statement released by the team Davis said,
“As a supporter of President Obama, I am sure the President is not aware that in the highly respected independent Annenberg Institute poll (taken in 2004) with a national sample of Native Americans, 9 out of 10 Native Americans said they were not bothered by the name the ‘Washington Redskins.’ The President made these comments to the Associated Press, but he was apparently unaware that an April 2013 AP poll showed that 8 out of 10 of all Americans in a national sample don’t think the Washington Redskins’ name should be changed.
“The Redskins respect everyone. But like devoted fans of the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Blackhawks (from President Obama’s hometown), the fans love their team and its name and, like those fans, they do not intend to disparage or disrespect a racial or ethnic group. The name ‘Washington Redskins’ is 80 years old – its history and legacy and tradition. The Redskins’ fans sing ‘Hail to the Redskins’ every Sunday as an expression of honor, not disparagement.”
Looks like Obama can add this to the list of political impasses in Washington but fortunately the stakes aren’t as high as the deterioration of our country’s standing in the global marketplace. Although Obama did joke that being a team owner might be part of his post-White House plans.
While the President said he would “probably pick a basketball team before [he] looked at a football team” here’s hoping that the he knows more about ending the impasse on Capital Hill than either football or basketball.
So what do you think? Leave a comment and let us know.
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