Obama Family's Secret Service Names Simultaneously Cool, Detached and Somewhat Ostentatiously Intellectual

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3:12 PM, Nov 10, 2008 • By MARY KATHARINE HAM

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Meet Renegade, Renaissance, Radiance and Rosebud.

I'm mostly just goofing, although three-syllable code names are not usually the order of the day. Renaissance? George W.'s and Laura's names are Tumbler and Tempo, respectively. Sarah and Todd Palin were reportedly Denali and Driller, which are equally reflective of their personalities and approaches as the Obamas' names.

If you were to read Nicholas Kristof today, you'd conclude Obama had lobbied for "Niebuhr" and "Nietzsche" but was rebuffed by the stiflingly anti-intellectual environment engendered at the White House during the Bush years.

In other Secret Service news, Scott McClellan needed a name? And, he warranted "Matrix?" If I were Renaissance, I'd lodge a complaint.