The left-leaning group CREDOaction is supporting a petition on its site titled “Tell John Boehner: Rename Ronald Reagan Airport,” which has 61,000 signatures, and a goal of reaching 85,000.
The petition appears to be motivated by the reaction of Speaker Boehner and other Republicans in Congress to the renaming of Mt. McKinley to Denali, a change imposed by the Obama administration that some Republicans have opposed.
The petition urges the Ohio Republican to “stay consistent” because “in 1998, Boehner and his fellow Republicans in Congress supported changing the name of the Washington National Airport, in order to name it after Ronald Reagan. Since the late 1990s, that airport has been known as the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“Given Speaker Boehner’s current outrage and disappointment at President Obama’s decision to rename Mount McKinley, it’s time to give him the opportunity to make up for his own past mistakes. Sign the petition and tell John Boehner he needs to be consistent when it comes to naming America’s landmarks,” the petition said.
The renaming of the airport in 1998 has frequently chafed left-leaning thinkers who assert that it was too political, and that Reagan’s presidency even today is too hotly debated, his policies still controversial, and their full legacy still unseen.
Reagan was still alive when it was renamed, which is a rarity in the honoring of American figures. In order to appear on U.S. currency, there is a specific federal prohibition on living figures.
“Unlike President Obama’s decision, which honors the local people and culture surrounding that landmark, the renaming of Washington National airport was met with resistance from local Virginia residents and leaders. It was also strongly opposed by airport workers themselves, given President Reagan’s role in breaking the air traffic controllers’ union and mass firing 11,000 workers,” the petition notes.
CREDOaction describes itself as a progressive group.
“Progressives must fight on every front to beat back right wing assaults on women’s rights, the environment, equality and social justice,” the website says. “CREDO activists moved the needle in many of these fights, winning outright victories along the way.”
