by Eric Kohn
St. Louis can be a befuddling place sometimes:
A busy St. Louis street will be renamed Barack Obama Boulevard in honor of the soon-to-be president.
Aldermen approved the measure Friday. A stretch of Delmar Boulevard will still be known on maps by its original name. But signage will name the street after the 44th president.
Sponsoring Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett says she wanted to acknowledge Obama even before his inauguration next Tuesday, calling him "one of our nation's truly transformational leaders."
A truly transformational leader? I'm sorry, but have I been caught in some kind of time lag? He's not President until Noon tomorrow. And they certainly can't be talking about his half-term in the US Senate, as he spent much of it campaigning for President. I don't really know what in that is "transformational".
But then again, St. Louis has set a precedent for jumping the gun in naming streets after people before the final jury weighs in. Consider this bad idea:
This was, of course, shortly after McGwire clubbed 70 home runs in the 1998 season. Shortly thereafter, McGwire's mark was surpassed by Barry Bonds. And then shortly after that, both were implicated as dopers who used steroids to enhance their performance. Oh yeah, "allegedly".
McGwire didn't help his case any with this pathetically infantile performance before Congress:
And now, St. Louisans are reconsidering the wisdom of remaking that stretch of Highway 70 after the shamed ballplayer:
A St. Louis congressman wants Mark McGwire's name stripped off the stretch of highway that was named after Big Mac following his 70-homer season in 1998.
"It would take an act by the state legislature, but I don't think he deserves a name on the highway if he can't be forthcoming about his involvement with this issue," U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, a Missouri Democrat, told The Associated Press on Friday. McGwire refused to tell the House Government Reform Committee on Thursday whether he had used steroids. Clay is a member of that panel.
Considering how poor of an idea this turned out to be, perhaps they might want to wait until Obama has been President for, I don't know, an hour?
Cross-posted at EricKohn.com
