Following conservative outrage over President Obama’s decision to revert the name of Mt. McKinley back to the mountain’s native Alaskan name of Denali, liberal group CREDO Action has launched a petition to change the name of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The petition targets House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who opposed Obama’s move to change Denali’s name and also pushed for Congress to change the name of Washington National Airport outside of Washington, D.C., to bear former President Ronald Reagan’s name.
“But in 1998, John Boehner and his fellow Republicans in Congress weren’t so hesitant to remove a president’s name from a public landmark when they decided to rename Washington National Airport after Ronald Reagan,” the petition reads. “That’s why it’s time to see if Speaker Boehner is willing to stay consistent and rename Ronald Reagan airport back to its original name honoring America’s first president, George Washington.”
CREDO notes that when Congress passed a bill changing the name of the airport, many local officials and airport employees opposed the name change. Despite the pushback, Congress passed the bill, which was signed into law by former President Bill Clinton in 1998. Many locals still refer to the airport by its original name.
“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,” the CREDO petition reads.
As of Monday, the petition had more than 65,000 signatures.
