Bo Obama is HOPE not CHANGE: Art Stern Interview

Porties for Obama by Moira McLaughlin

As I reported yesterday, the Obamas' new Portuguese Water Dog (who we now know has been re-named Bo) comes from a litter with names that dovetailed nicely with Barack Obama's campaign themes.  I wasn't sure if Amigo Kennel owner Art Stern was psychic when he named the puppies who were born on October 9 (before President Obama was elected) or if he was just a passionate Obama supporter.  So I asked him.  First here are the names of the names of the ten Portie puppies:

Amigo's Captain Courageous
Amigo's Change To Believe In
Amigo's Great Hope
Amigo's Hope For Tomorrow
Amigo's Hope Of Tomorrow
Amigo's Hope Wilson Will Prevail
Amigo's Hoping For Change
Amigo's Hoping For The Best
Amigo's New Hope
Amigo's Shining Hope

Moira McLaughlin: Would you tell me how the names were selected?

Art Stern: The puppies were born on October 9, 2008, but we did not develop names until the middle of November - after the election.  We like to have topical themes for the litters. For instance a litter born on St. Patrick's Day had Irish themed names (Top O The Mornin', Dancin' A Jig). Hope and Change seemed very appropriate. We let owners choose names that follow the theme.

MM: Were you a longtime Barack Obama supporter?

AS: I was an Obama supporter from the day he announced.  It took Martha [Stern's wife] a while longer to come over from Hillary.

MM: Did you think in October, when the puppies were born, that one of them would
be destined for the White House?

AS: Heavens no.  We knew one was going to Ted & Vicki. [That one is Captains Courageous]

MM: And finally, the question I am most curious about, which one of the puppies
is Bo? 

AS: Amigo's New Hope

Thank you, Mr. Stern for letting us know a bit more about Bo Obama's early days.  He is adorable!

NOTE: The above Porties for Obama image that I originally made for Buffy Nicolas of her dog Willy is going to be featured on NBC News tonight.

T-shirts, cards, and other products with the image are available here.

12:14 PM Update:  PetConnection.com has an interview with Amigo Kennel owner, Martha Stern, who explains why Charlie was not a good fit for his original family and how he ended up the Obamas' dog:

The family had two older Portuguese Water Dogs, and when one of them died, they got a puppy to keep their remaining dog company.

“Usually that works out all right,” said Stern. “But not this time. This little puppy was quite rambunctious, and I think he kind of barreled in there and tried to nurse off the older dog when he first got there. And she said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ She did not understand this at all, and just lay around growling at him.”

Around two months ago, the owners made the decision to let the older dog have her peace and quiet back. “Vicki Kennedy found out about it, and she said, ‘This is a perfect situation, Martha.’ And after I thought about it, I had to agree.”  (full story)

Comments

[Mike Licht]

Do Portuguese Water Dogs eat linguiça?

See

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/bo-obama-first-dog/

[Nancy Muniz]

Thank God he had the sense not to support one of those irresponsible mutt makers and went with a responsible, knowledgeable breeder instead. At least he didn't make the same blunder that Biden did purchasing from and thus supporting a virtual PM / commercially motivated high volume breeder.

[rebecca]

Congrats on the nbc news feature for your artwork. Enjoyed reading the scoop!

[Lev]

Alright! A lapdog for the lapdog of the bourgeoisie!

And here's a clue in case you've been asleep for the last two years: Obama isn't about change either.

Obama is a neo-con in (not-very-convincing) disguise. This is the same guy who thinks Iraqis should pay for the rebuilding of their country (now awash in carcinogenic depleted uranium dust from American D.U. munitions) that was trashed by the U.S., competed with Hillary in the primaries to see who could be more beliigerant a warhawk regarding the Afghanistan-Pakistan situation, spouts the official myth of 9/11, wears a flag lapel pin like a fascist with no taste, gave a right-wing speech to the right-wing Veterans of Foreign Wars, had dinner with George Will, William Krystol and Charles Krauthammer, professes his love for A.I.P.A.C., went to the Bilderberg Group meeting, gave speeches to the Council on Foreign Relations, stuffs his administration with Council on Foreign Relations-Trilateral Commission-Bilderberg Group-A.I.P.A.C.-"New" [fake] Democrats, shelves the windfall tax on Big Oil companies, says the rich should be looked up to as role models, threw Rev. Wright under the bus, spouts the same conservative rhetoric about black people just needing to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, voted for F.I.S.A., voted for immunity for wiretapping telecom companies, voted for continuation of the Patriot Act (after saying he wouldn't), has right-wing bigot Rick Warren give the invocation, is against gay marriage, is against legalizing drugs (meaning he's in favor of the government telling adults what they can and cannot ingest in the privacy of their own homes), is for the death penalty, is escalating the war in Afghanistan, wants to expand the "Peace Corps" C.I.A. front organization, worked for a C.I.A. front company right after he graduated Harvard and has made it plain he will let Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the other war criminals get away with their torture and mass murder. These are just SOME examples.

To the Obamabots out there, you may as well have voted for McCain. They're both controlled puppets of the elite. That's the way American politics is. Nobody that ACTUALLY would change things is going to be allowed to rise to national prominence. All the ones that the corporate-owned media incessantly told us had any chance at getting either of the nominations, Obama, Hillary, Edwards, Richardson, McCain, Giuliani, Romney etc. are all just bought-and-paid-for marionettes. That way, no matter WHO the voters choose it will be somebody already in the pocket of the elite ultra-rich ruling class bloodsuckers in the C.F.R., Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group. America is a sham democracy.

[lunarmagpie]

Don't hold back, Lev -- tell us how you REALLY feel.

And if you think America is just a sham democracy, there's always Somalia. We won't stop you.

[cheri haught]

love your site and art work of bo

[Mike]

If you think about it a dog is a great poster boy for a politician. Everyone loves dogs and dogs are always happy. Who wouldn't want to vote for a person that loved dogs and had a dog?