A Brief & in No Way Complete List of People to the Left of Barack Obama

Sojourner Truth
Dr. Ruth
Don Bluth
Sonic Youth
Claire Boothe Luce
Lenny Bruce
Beetlejuice
Mr. Moose
Dr. Seuss
Henri de Toulouse-

Lautrec
Chiang Kai-Shek
Ric Ocasek
Salma Heyek
John Steinbeck
Dave Brubeck
West Virginia Tech
Alex Trebek
Jeff Beck
Sam Peck-

inpah
George Bernard Shaw
Quickdraw McGraw
Evelyn Waugh
Yo Yo Ma
Che Guevara
WWE Raw
Edward Degas
Pierre Auguste & Jean Renoir
The Shah

of Iran
The Cowardly Lion
George Gordon, Lord Byron
John Donne
Thomas Pynchon
Richard Nixon
John Milton
Elmer & Elsie Borden
Lisa Simpson
Cameron

Diaz
Trini Lopez
Hugo Chávez
Joan Baez
Desi Arnez
Shimon Peres
Manny Ramirez
Bender Bending Rodriguez
Benito Juarez
Mr. Wiz-

ard
Ron Howard
Jean-Luc Picard
John Heard
Larry Byrd
George III
Joanne Woodward
Robert Goddard
Surfin’ Bird
William Word-

sworth
Mother Earth
Colin Firth
Judd Hirsh 
Simon Birch
Lurch
Mary Worth
Charlotte Church
Rita Hayworth
Don Kirsh-

ner
Li'l Abner
Judge Wapner
Gilda Radner
Francis Farmer
Stanley Steamer
The Inbetweeners
Harold Pinter
Rainer

Marie Rilke
Sgt. Hulka
“Chewie” Chewbacca
Mike Ditka
My Friend Flicka
Exena Cervenka
Franz Kafka
Mo Rocca
Joe Palooka
Chaka

Khan
Vince Vaughn
Don Juan
Wallace Shawn
Sammy Cahn
Genghis Khan
Sir Elton John
A nameless, faceless automaton
Spawn
Don

Corleone
Oliver Stone
Sylvester Stallone
Al Capone
Andre Breton
Vic Damone
Tommy Tutone
Harvey Firestone
Sly & the Family Stone
The Unknown

Comic
Moby Dick
The Tick
Jiminy Glick
Tom & Grace Slick
Philip K. Dick
Bill Belichick
Robin Thicke
Joy Stick

Cheech & Chong
El Kabong
Donkey Kong
Huey Long
Louie Armstrong
Erica Jong
Carl Jung
Cathy Song
Hong Kong

Phooey
Banjo Kazooie
Truman Capote
John Dewey
Huey, Dewey & Louie
The Tooth Fairy
Richard Scary
Ruff & Ready
J. Paul Getty
e.e.

cummings
Yao Ming
Doris Lessing
William Golding
Deng Xiaoping
Otis Redding
Sting
Thing
Bing

Crosby
Bill Cosby
Bill Bixby
Little Debbie
Dear Abby
Mister Bee
Bambi
Dr. Marcus Welby
Chubby

Checker
Julius Caesar
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Aaron Burr
Blur
Harry Potter
Alice Walker
Dorothy Parker
Peter

Pan
Lindsey Lohan
Jackie Chan
The Michelin Man
Amy Tan
Ayn Rand
Prince Albert in a Can
Caliban
Walt Whitman
Lon

Chaney
Dick Cheney
Seamus Heaney
Ma Rainey
Walt Disney
Federico Fellini
Will Penny
Kenny Chesney
Jerry Mahoney
Jack Benny
Lenny

Kravitz
Stan Getz
Aunt Fritz
Mark Spitz
Leonard Pitts
Fran Lebowitz
Fievel Mousekewitz
Franz Listz
The Ritz

Brothers
Tom & Dick Smothers
Tina Yothers
Carl Weathers
Jerry Mathers
Sid Dithers
Seurat's Bathers
The Goodfeathers
Lex Luther
The Mothers

of Invention
Attila the Hun
Buck Mulligan
The Nation
Hulk Hogan
Louise Bogan
Donald Fagen
Ronald Reagan
Menachem Begin
Captain

Kangaroo
Mr. Magoo
Johnny LaRue
Nosferatu
Winnie-the-Pooh
Suzy Q
Gerard Depardieu
Elizabeth Shue
Dr.  Who
Drew

Brees
John Cleese
Chuck E. Cheese
Miranda Keyes
Rick Dees
Socrates
Euripides
Fran at Applebee’s
Metta World Peace
Louise

Fletcher
Hannibal Lecter
Det. Dennis Becker
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker
Max Escher
Teri Hatcher
Carrie Fisher
John Beecher
Arthur Treacher
The Creature

from the Black Lagoon
Reese Witherspoon
Bowie Kuhn
Lorna Doone
Rocky Raccoon
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Daniel Boone
Alice the Goon
Peter Noone
June

Lockhart
Christopher Smart
Bob Newhart
Jean Paul Sartre
Andrew Breitbart
Tess Trueheart
Rene Descartes
James Rekart
Captain Beefheart
Hart

Crane
JohnWayne
Jack Lalane
Stan & Jan Berenstain
King Juan Carlos I of Spain
Pinky & the Brain
Thomas Paine
Charles Foster Kane
Paul Verlaine
Mickey Spillane
Jane

Goodall
Andy Warhol
Lucille Ball
Jethro Tull
Lauren Bacall
Taj Mahal
The Wailing Wall
Roald Dahl
Bobby Hull
Pol

Pot
Marge Schott
Mel Ott
Jot & Lot
Sir Walter Scott
Little Dot
James Watt
Johnny-on-the-Spot
Lt. Col. Donald Penobscot
Mott

the Hoople
Angela Merkel
Steve Urkel
Studs Terkel
G.W.F. Hegel
Yertle the Turtle
Gregor Mendel
Mr. Whipple
Y.A. Tittle
The Mormon Tabernacle

Choir
Billy Squier
Talia Shire
Richard Pryor
Jon Cryer
“Ted” Theodore Logan, Esq.
Georgette Heyer
Rocky Bleier
Jerry Maguire
Douglas Neidermeyer
Friar

Tuck
Daffy Duck
Louise Gluck
Herman Wouk
Mr. Spock
Tony Hawk
Richard Bach
Alfred Hitchcock
J. Alfred Prufrock
Jacques

Cousteau
C3PO
Sadaharu Oh
Mia Farrow
Super Mario
Dr. Zhivago
Ugly Kid Joe
Quinn the Eskimo
Vincent Van Gogh
Arthur Rimbaud
Bluto

Blutarsky
Aldous Huxley
Woody Guthrie
Larry, Moe & Curly
Mr. T.
Hayao Miyazaki
The Big Lebowski
Mrs. Beasley
Ron Weasley
Punxsutawney

Phil
John Stuart Mill
Shirley Hemphill
Jack & Jill
Emmett Till
Buffalo Bill
Bruce McGill
Herman Melville
Joe Hill
Bill

Maher
FDR
Jamie Farr
Jack Paar
Ringo Starr
Rosanne Barr
Terri Garr
Johnny Marr
Vicki Carr
Nardwuar

the Human Serviette
Joan Jett
Leon Lett
Boba Fett
Thomas à Becket
Wilson Pickett
Hamlet
Molly Hatchet
T.S. Eliot
Cate Blanchett
W. Somerset

Maugham
Prof. Plum
Major Thom
Tweedledee & Tweedledum
Don Cheatam
Harry Crumb
Beetlebum
Tom Thumb
John Crowe Ransom

George Santayana
Madonna
Kung Fu Panda
Casanova
Anna Karenina
Jello Biafra
Princess Leia
Sodom & Gomorrah
Roberta

Flack
Shaq
Brak
The Knack
Frick & Frack
The Rat Pack
Billy Jack
Jack Kerouac
Jack Black
Black

Francis
Wesley Willis
Hi & Lois
Alice B. Toklas
Amos Moses
Julio & Enrique Iglesias
Jerry Lee Lewis
Anonymous
Gaius Valerius Catullus
Jesus

H. Christ
Vincent Price
Fanny Brice
Vanilla Ice
Posh Spice
Theodore Weiss
Heidi Fleiss
Judy in Disguise
Three Blind Mice
Andrew Dice

Clay
Doris Day
Claude Monet
Don Quixote
Dr. Dre
Friedrich Nietzche
Kid & Play
Bob & Ray
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Guillaume

Apollinaire
Stephen Colbert
Smokey the Bear
Lilith Fair
Jane Eyre
Sonny & Cher
Linda Blair
Bucky O'Hare
Charles Baudelaire
Jer-

emy Lin
Anais Nin
Dr. Quinn
Huckleberry Finn
Rin Tin Tin
Kim Kardashian
Rasputin
Vladimir Putin
Philip Larkin
Pin-

head
Mr. Ed
Murray Head
Right Said Fred
Judge Dredd
Erik the Red
Shaun of the Dead
A man named Jed,
A poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fed
Ned

Beatty
Slim Shady
Frank Nitti
Marsha Brady
Mr. Gatti
Chatty Cathy
The Manson Family
Mr. Smee
Travis McGee

Comments

Zack said…
This is absolutely incredible. "Peter Pan" is a decent transition to your next stanza, especially following "Parker," though I wonder about the stance of Spider-Man and Steely Dan.

Matt Morris said…
I considered both, but wanted, believe it or not, to limit my list. Hard to explain how I left Steely Dan off, though! Thing is, I keep coming up with more names to add, like Tom Terrific & Gustave Flaubert, but once I get started, there never seems an end to rhyming.