Obama "Renegade," Says Secret Service
The piquant tradition of Secret Service code names for Presidents and their families continues with President-elect Obama, whom the BBC reports is known in security communications as "Renegade." The Secret Service tells the BBC that the names have no function other than clarity in radio transmissions, though in the past these decisions have seemed to demonstrate some editorial judgment: ex-President Carter was dubbed "Deacon," Vice-President Gore was briefly "Sawhorse" and Vice-President Cheney is "Angler." Obama's wife and daughters Malia and Sasha are, respectively, Renaissance, Rosebud and Radiance; McCain and Palin are Phoenix and Parasol, and Vice-President-elect Biden is Celtic, presumably with a hard "c."
More fun with code names can be found at the Chicago Tribune, and with celebrity pseudonyms at the Australian Herald-Sun, which reveals that Johnny Depp sometimes identifies himself as Mr. Donkey Ass.
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