About two weeks ago, Omarosa Manigault, the director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, sent out an invite to the Congressional Black Caucus and signed her name, “The Honorable Omarosa Manigault.” Girl, are you crazy? What school did she go to? If she has come out of hiding I hope she has found a book of etiquette that explains when that title is used. According to Robert Hickey, author of “Honor and Respect: The official guide to names, titles and forms of address,” In the U.S. “the Honorable” is a courtesy title used with current and retired high-ranking federal and state officials and judges, and with some local officials. As a general rule, those appointed by the President of the United States (and approved by the U.S. Senate) and anyone elected to public office are entitled to be addressed as “the Honorable” for life. The Honorable is always used before a full name. As a courtesy title the Honorable describes an individual: This person is honorable. As such it never precedes the name of an office.
Honorable or Hon. are not used in direct address—on a letter or place card, or in a salutation or conversation —as honorifics like Mr., Mrs. Ms., Mayor, Ambassador, etc. If the guest of honor is the Honorable, and their name is being included on the invitation, the host can list their guest as the Honorable (Full Name) since the name is a reference to another person, not that person writing their own name. “Omarosa, do you understand?” And just for the record, the invite was declined by the Congressional Black Caucus.
This White House reality show is really getting to Omarosa. Normally the reality shows that Omarosa has appeared on have only lasted the length of a television season. She must think that this is a real job. In my opinion this is just a long-playing reality show that unfortunately is affecting a lot of people. Just to give you a little background on Omarosa, she grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, in the Westlake Projects. When she was 7 years old her father was murdered. In 2011 her brother was shot dead in his own home. She has a B.A. in Radio/TV Broadcast Journalism from Central State University in Ohio and a M.A. in Mass Communication Studies from Howard University. She is also a minister. Do you remember her on “The Ultimate Merger” with mega church pastor Jamal Bryant as her spiritual advisor? You need to research this woman, she is a mess. Her bio includes: Fear Factor, The Surreal Life, Celebrity Poker, Battle of the Reality Stars and more. But she is in high cotton now working in the White House with her old boss. Several years ago Trump said of her, “Omarosa was a great personality on The Apprentice that was watched by over 40 million people as it became the No. 1 show on TV.” Donald says, “Omarosa is smart, witty and difficult, but all of those qualities will make for some very interesting entertainment.”
Stick a fork in me. I’m done.
(Email Debbie at debbienorrell@aol.com)
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‘The Honorable’ (July 5, 2017)
