Intentionally or not, President Barack Obama poked the far left bear during Tuesday’s White House ceremony honoring the 1972 Miami Dolphins when he used what many of his liberal base consider a racist, derogatory, and patently offensive term: Redskins.
By doing so, however, the president has potentially and many may argue finally offered the remote possibility that he might be on the side of an issue–like retaining the Washington Redskins name–which enjoys overwhelming public support.
While giving his speech on the ’72 Dolphins’ historic 17-0 season, President Obama said:
“Winning the Super Bowl, however, was not a foregone conclusion. The Dolphins had to win in Pittsburgh just to make it there. And once they did, they still were slight underdogs to the Redskins in the big game.”
Although the Rachel Maddows of the world may take issue with the president ignoring their calls to abandon the mere mention of the “R-word,” they are, as usual, running opposite of popular public opinion. A recent Associated Press-GfK poll conducted in May found that “nearly four in five” Americans support keeping the Redskins name.
President Obama, whose job approval numbers are now in the mid-40’s and trending down, may find it advantageous to be willing to listen not to his liberal base, but instead to 79 percent of Americans. Suppose after five years in office, one has to start somewhere.