Talk:Barack Obama

Barry or Barack?

And the reason this is at "Barry" instead of Barack is....? --KilMichaelMcC 19:41, 17 June 2009 (EDT)

I'll venture to guess that 'Barry' is the only name he's been identified by in any media. Like how Nick Fury is at 'Nicholas' even though we know who it's supposed to be. - Cattleprod 19:45, 17 June 2009 (EDT)

Thus the quote in the reference that includes his-- oh, hold on... I quoted the other one.

Good catch 'kil, I'll add a quote on the other ref. -Derik 19:48, 17 June 2009 (EDT)

Titan Comics

I'm confused about what the section on the Titan Comics stuff is there for. It doesn't appear to mention Obama at all. --KilMichaelMcC 01:25, 18 June 2009 (EDT)

Second on confusion as to why the Titan Comics is there as well, unless it's just using as reference (which doesn't quite make much sense). As to where "Barry" came from, it's from "Dreams of My Father" and this article mentions how Obama went from "Barry" to "Barack". --Lonegamer78 03:36, 18 June 2009 (EDT)

We seem to include president "numbers" for non-fictional presidents. The T.F.Allen note is because in a splinter timeline, Barry Obama is not the 44th President of the United States, someone else is. -Derik 03:44, 18 June 2009 (EDT)

That seems like, at most, a trivia note. Certainly shouldn't be a fiction section on this page if Obama himself doesn't appear in the Titan comic. --KilMichaelMcC 03:59, 18 June 2009 (EDT)

Yeah. I was going to move it to the trivia section, but couldn't quite figure out how I wanted to word it. So someone else can. Hooper_X 09:10, 18 June 2009 (EDT)

That's fine, I waffled on where to put it myself. -Derik 10:33, 18 June 2009 (EDT)

Obama onscreen?

Wait, so is Obama actually in Revenge of the Fallen and not just on Leo's viral marketing site?

that's how I read it as well. At least I tried to read it as blood was shooting out my eyes, my head thrashing in a blind rage. Some clarification please?

Most of us haven't seen the film yet, and the ones that have seem to be offline or are declining to spoil. According to Bay, Obama is involved with the film somehow, and hopefully, his proper name is mentioned so we don't have to continue using this unintentionally insensitive name for this article. --FFN 23:42, 21 June 2009 (EDT)

I don't know if it's insensitive. He's "Barry" to his friends, according to most sources.--Rosicrucian^Talk 23:52, 21 June 2009 (EDT)

I thought during the election it was said while he was younger, he was referred to as Barry, but after learning more about the struggles of African-Americans, he preferred to be called Barack? --FFN 00:02, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

Presumably FFN find the use of a dimunitive for a powerful black man insensitive. I can't really disagree-- it's the same principle as calling someone "boy" or "that one," on a milder scale.

(Leo certainly didn't mean it that way. He self-identifies as black, apparently, so it's a familiar term for him, not a diminutive.) -Derik 00:38, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

As to whether or not the Prez is in the film: He's not, but "the president" is referred to several times by Galloway, and this is confirmed to be "President Obama" (no first name) by a news report at one stage. - Chris McFeely 05:43, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

If anyone is interested, we do have a source for "Barack Obama" by way of a press conference Robo-Warrior links to on [GiantEffingRobots.com. - Starfield 09:58, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

I would vote that that is sufficient to move this article to the President's proper name. --KilMichaelMcC 12:40, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

Chris, Obama is

definitely seen on screen during the film

Drmick 12:30, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

Totally

didn't see him anywhere! And I was looking out for him, too! I assume it was on a TV in the background, then?

- Chris McFeely 12:41, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

Yep. Just after the Fallen

gets the entire world to hunt him down

I was actually kinda shocked they used his image AND named him (I was unaware of the Bay-Obama story cos I've been avoiding spoilers) Drmick 12:48, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

do they use his full name in the film, or just "President Obama"? -Derik 12:56, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

I honestly cannot remember, sorry. Drmick 12:59, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

Just "President Obama". Unless his full name appeared in a caption on the aforemtioned TV screen! - Chris McFeely 16:32, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

Why

From what I saw of the movie (which was all of it), Obama had as much of a role as Bush did; only being used as "The President said...", and I certainly didn't see him appear on screen unless it was in the background. So without sounding annoyed, why does he get an entire article to himself, one that frankly gushes over him, when no other President except for Theodore Allen does? (even the ones that appeared much more and with more importance to the plot, such as in the Unicron Trilogy, or any of the G1 guys)?KrytenKoro 06:52, 25 June 2009 (EDT)

Because he gets a name. The other Presidents of the United States were nameless cameos. President Obama is named. --ItsWalky 08:36, 25 June 2009 (EDT)

And it's nifty that apparently Obama gave permission to be named. --FFN 09:06, 25 June 2009 (EDT)

Except that in the first movie, Simmons names the president by his nickname, "Dubya" - and this article existed when it only had the nickname "Barry" as well, so that's not it. Then there's the problem that virtually all of this article is redundant to the president article, except for the aforementioned, real-world based gushing. On any other wiki, this would be considered either a stub, a joke article, or possibly even a vanity article.KrytenKoro 01:14, 29 June 2009 (EDT)

"Gushing"? Seriously? If this article is considered "gushing," maybe you should instead be editing Conservapedia? --ItsWalky 01:17, 29 June 2009 (EDT)

"President Dubya" is a pair of red socks, a badly-accented voice, and a nickname. "President Barry" is the real-life Barack Obama in an interview clip used in the ROTF viral marketing with his permission, plus a link to a press release using his full name in the same marketing campaign, plus a brief static shot in the movie. I'd say there's a degree of magnitude difference in notability. - Jackpot 01:38, 29 June 2009 (EDT)

Actually, I don't know that Obama gave any permission. Here's Bay's telling of events. If someone else has more info, please share, but as far as I can tell they just complimented each other a little and went on their separate ways. Bay seems to have made his decision independently. - Jackpot 15:57, 29 June 2009 (EDT)

Jackpot - I only knew about the use of the interview clip on the gianteffing blog, sorry. I see your point.

Barack "Barry" Obama (August 4, 1961–) is the 44th President of the United States. He has the oratory of an Abraham Lincoln.

Obama is a young, charismatic, media-savvy President, and practices the disgusting Earth custom known as "vlogging."

Walky, what does the above have to do with Transformers? Hell, how is it at all demonstrated in the material (besides "vlogging" and "44th president")? You guys go out of your way to exclude any and all relevant but not explicit info in articles like Jesus and Abraham Lincoln, but somehow it's not gushing to spend the lead of the article like this?

No, I don't like the man. However, I'm zealously Christian, and I still love the Jesus article, so I think I can fairly say I'm being unbiased about this. You guys came up with a policy of excluding all non-Transformers info from the wiki, and not only do you subvert that policy on this page, the subversion is neither relevant, in the tone of the wiki, or even for the sake of a joke. It's gushing, plain and simple.KrytenKoro 01:13, 2 July 2009 (EDT)

Er-- you realize that "oratory of an Abraham Lincoln" is actually an insult, right? (I mean, I know it is... I wrote it!)

Read the Abraham Lincoln article. Barry's intro is a ref to that-- Optimus Prime's character was actually based on' Abraham Lincoln (explicitly, it's in his TFU profile) the stoic, empathetic genuinely caring and often tortured man who struggled to make the right choices instead of the easy ones?

Sating that Barry has the oratory of a Lincoln isn't a compliment in that context. He's a good, charismatic speaker. The question we're seeing answered now and over the next seven years is whether or not he has the character to back up his high-minded words.... or if he's all flash no substance. Big shoes. -Derik 01:40, 2 July 2009 (EDT)

I'm struggling to see where "young", "charismatic" and "media-savvy" are, you know, wrong, let alone "gushing". This mostly sounds like intense, pointless panty-wadding. --M Sipher 02:43, 2 July 2009 (EDT)

They're not necessarily complimentary attributes. Young + Charismatic tends to lead to dictators. Charisma is safer with age. -Derik 03:17, 2 July 2009 (EDT)

"are, you know, wrong, let alone "gushing"."

The point I'm trying to make here is not that we should be saying bad things about him! The point I'm trying to make is that the way this page is set up is out of tone with similar pages on the wiki, and in that context, it comes off as gushing. I'm not trying to start a political argument or asking him to be insulted, I'm asking that this page is treated like the other real-character articles on this wiki.KrytenKoro 09:59, 2 July 2009 (EDT)

How is it out of tone?

Barry has almost no fiction appearances. The only real reference we have for him in Leo Spitz's blog entries... which were gushing. -Derik 11:15, 2 July 2009 (EDT)

Fine, never mind then.KrytenKoro 11:23, 3 July 2009 (EDT)

To be honest, I'm not entirely comfortable with the tone as it now. Maybe earlier it was gushing, but now it's gone to "Obama is the incarnation of evil". Some might think that's excessive, but then again, I would argue that "his policies are a constant thorn in NEST's side" are equally excessive. I think a lot of the problems with the White House in the movie can be laid at the feet of Galloway, and I'd rather not see him absolved of a lot of the problems he clearly caused just because some people don't like Obama. -- SFH 13:18, 23 July 2009 (EDT)

Yeah, the article does seem to be artificially elevating Obama's "role" in the movie far above what it actually was. --KilMichaelMcC 13:33, 23 July 2009 (EDT)

So is someone willing to try and rewrite the page? I'd try to make a more neutral one, but I do not trust myself to make one that will satisfy everyone's interests. -- SFH 15:44, 25 July 2009 (EDT)

One thing to remember. What Obama knew was pretty much what Galloway was reporting. And do you really expect a snivelling weasel like Galloway to speak the truth and not bend it in ways to further advance his own position? I mean, really? --Detour 16:36, 25 July 2009 (EDT)

It doesn't matter what we "expect"; it matters what we KNOW. We don't know how many sources of information Obama had, nor did we ever see Galloway report anything to him, so that whole argument is right out. We DO know that Galloway was claiming to act on direct behalf of the President, so unless we're going to assume without proof that Galloway was lying, we should portray the President accordingly. I was the one who rewrote the article with its negative tone, and it has nothing to do with my real-life opinion of Obama. I thought it was a very accurate portrayal of what we know about the fictional Obama. But now it's so neutered that it sounds like Galloway had practically gone rogue. I don't recall the exact dialogue, but I thought that the idea that the Autobots were attracting the Decepticons and the order to shut NEST down were things Galloway claimed to be passing on from the President, not originating himself. And even if I'm wrong about that, the fact that the President gave Galloway the authority to act in his name makes him responsible for Galloway's actions anyway. No matter which way you spin it, the ROTF President - who happens to be Obama - has a lot to answer for.

And I noticed a bit of real-life-related info got snipped too, relating to Bay's apparent shortsightedness. The reference to criticism of Obama's foreign policy has been deleted, but I think that loses something essential. Bay's last-minute "compliment" to Obama isn't backhanded just because the movie makes him look bad; it makes him look bad in a way that reflects one of the primary points of contention people have with Obama in real life. The note had nothing to do with whether or not the weak-on-terrorists criticism is RIGHT; the mere fact that it exists makes Bay's decision monumentally thoughtless, and THAT'S who's really being criticized in that note.

- Jackpot 01:52, 4 August 2009 (EDT)

Kevin Michael Richardson and Cleveland Show note

What exactly do those have to do with the scope of this wiki? I mean, it's not even an interesting note, and it's not relevant to Transformers. It sounds like one of those reaching kinds of trivia that anons are always trying to add.192.249.47.196 15:46, 5 December 2011 (EST)