The Sydney Morning Herald:On schools, roads and airports, Barack Obama's name keeps popping up

America's first African-American president need not go far around the country these days to find something that carries his name. There's Barack Obama Way in New Albany Township, Indiana, and Barack Obama Boulevard in Pahokee, Florida. There's a long list of schools now named after him, like Barack Obama Academy for Academic & Civic Development in Plainfield, New Jersey, and Barack Obama Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia.

State Senator Anthony Portantino, who pushed through the legislation, said Obama would certainly be familiar with the route: he commuted on it when he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles in the late 1970s.

"It's the actual stretch of freeway he used," Portantino said. "There is a proud connection. His early political career was inspired by his days here."

Portantino said he raised the nearly $US7000 ($9700) to buy the freeway signs by throwing a fundraiser. The outpouring was so great that he said money was left over, which was donated to the Obama Foundation, the Chicago non-profit that is building the Barack Obama Presidential Centre.

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