Happy Birthday Mr. President: Antigua’s gift is to rename highest peak “Mount Obama”

Antigua’s highest peak renamed ‘Mount Obama’

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua — The highest peak on the Caribbean island of Antigua has a new name: Mount Obama.

Antiguan Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer presided over a ceremony re-christening the peak on the American president’s birthday.

The mountain rises some 1,300 feet (395 meters) above the sea and had been known as Boggy Peak. Spencer said Tuesday that first black American president is a source of pride for the whole Caribbean.

There were a few grumbles of criticism over the change, with the head of the opposition Antigua Labor Party calling it “silly.” But Spencer didn’t need parliament’s approval and there was no formal campaign against the renaming.