"The Obama flu?"


Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack (a former Iowa governor) and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano want us to stop calling the swine flu "the swine flu."

They want us to call it "the H1N1 flu."

The reason they give is that people who raise hogs shouldn't have to suffer. Personally, I don't think people are likely to persecute hog farmers because of a virus, and I'm not convinced that they're going to stop eating pork, either. And given the fact that- although it's not the same virus- the virus which caused the great 1918 "Spanish flu" pandemic is known by the same designation, this does not seem to me to be the smartest moniker for the bug.

But I don't think "the H1N1 flu" is going to catch on. What do you think? Should we call it "the Vilsack flu" or "the Napolitano flu?" Or maybe "the Obama flu?" After all, if Dubyah is going to be blamed for everything that happened on his watch, wouldn't it be only fair to treat The One the same way?

ADDENDUM: Interesting point made somewhere (don't remember where): since strains of flu are typically known for their area of origin (e.g., "Spanish Flu," "Asian Flu," "Hong Kong Flu"),
why not call this strain the "Mexican Flu?" Or would that be politically incorrect?

Comments

Popular Posts