How Barry Obama decided to become Barack Obama

Last month we had the flap over whether members of the public could use the actual middle name of Barack Hussein Obama openly because the Arabic-sounding, maybe-he-really-is-a-Muslim name his parents gave him can now be used by a malevolent few to impugn the Democratic candidate's patriotism and Americanness in an era of terror over terrorism.

Obama's travails in recent days over his 20-year association with a Chicago Christian church and racial rants of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright there may have pretty well erased the Muslim concern, though creating their own black nationalist worries in the minds of some.

But this morning, as part of the ongoing lengthy discovery process about the vital narratives of our remaining presidential candidates, out comes Newsweek with an intriguing article about the 1980-81 era in Obama's life when he was a California college student at Occidental known as Barry Obama. (With a tip of the hat to the Politico's Mike Allen.)

The magazine cover story describes a gradual personality change in the young man when he actually reversed the assimilation process his Kenyan immigrant father had made upon arriving in 1959 and wanting to fit into the American melting pot. So the father's name of Barack became Barry.

In the early 1980s, with his father long absent and returned to Africa, the would-be politician re-chose Barack, to the consternation of some family members. "It was when I made a conscious decision: I want to grow up," Obama told the magazine.

According to Newsweek's account by Richard Wolffe, Jessica Ramirez and Jeffrey Bartholet, the name change -- or reversal -- became part of the biracial young man's personal discovery that he occupied a potentially unique political position in modern America, as someone who knew intimately both life as a white and an African American.

It's a revealing magazine story and one of the better arguments for what have become 22-month presidential campaigns; they give us more time to learn more about the inner lives of the surviving White House contenders.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[anonreader]

Richard Wolfe did little serious sleuthing, and the writer of this article even less, over the discovery of Obama going by the name "Barry" while he was in Hawaii or as a student at Occidental. This interesting fact is neither obscure, nor newly discovered. Any idiot reading the coverage of the presidential race as reported in Hawaii's papers (duh) has known it for ages.

No "tip of the hat" (gag me) to Politico, the LA Times or Newsweek for the shameful, shallow reporting we have endured during this season.

[jose]

OBAMA IS UNELECTABLE IN GENERAL ELECTION
Easy to see already see Republican attack ads against Obama. First open with videos of racist wife, Michelle, saying she was proud of America "for the first time" because of her husband's presidential candidacy, next Obama explaining that he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin or hold his hands to his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance because it is a "substitute for true patriotism." Then flash a clip of Obama explaining that his Caucasian grandmother was a "typical white person" because she uttered racial epithets and was afraid of black people. Finally, the coup de grace, pictures of Obama's angry, arm-waving preacher blaming the United States for 9/11 and shouting "God Damn America" to the rafters of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ and preaching the U.S. government formulated the HIV AIDS virus to commit genocide against blacks. Even though Obama supposedly condemning Wright's shocking verbal assaults against the U.S and White Americans, even last year; Obama was the first to public ally demand Don Imus ouster for making a racially insensitive remark, and Obama continues to support Wrights racism and remains at the church for more than 20 years, he and Michelle obviously feels it’s a good environment to expose his young daughters too. His opinions and issues change with the weather, he is too UNSTABLE and proven he cannot make a decision or stay with one. If that’s not enough, then you start showing his terrible senate voting record, Obama when faced with tough choices always gave in to pressure from the Bush administration or corporate lobbyists, Obama dealings with one of his largest contributors, Exelon, a big nuclear power company and the deals he cut behind closed doors to protect them from full disclosure in the nuclear industry. Obamas record shows he infact did support the war when he got to the senate, voted twice against bringing America's troops back home. He voted for war appropriations giving our money to Halliburton and Blackwater where Texas woman, was gang-raped by her co-workers at a Halliburton/KBR camp in Baghdad, His latest bit of posturing S 433 allows the Bush Administration to suspend any troop withdrawal, if not suspended, keeps the troops in Iraq for a long time to come, but in his camp stumps touts he wants to bring troops home, but as we have witnessed his recent lies to voters like Canada he cannot be trusted on his word and lastly ALL the corrupt indicted financial backers, like Rezko…Get out of the race Obama you are destroying the democratic party!

CNN-Passport exec is Obama adviser, CEO of the company whose employees accused of improperly looking at the passport files of presidential candidates is consultant on foreign policy to the Barack Obama campaign

[Frances Kogen]

I’m confused. Where does Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ fit into the Protestant scheme of things: Pentecostal, Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, other? For instance, my mother was an evangelical missionary in Kalgan, North China. She said Christians do not swear or take the name of the Lord in vain; do not hate people, only some of their actions; and certainly Christian ministers do not shout God damn America from the pulpit. Maybe the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s version is “other.”

[Barry]

I'd never vote for Barak, but I'd definitely vote for Barry.

"Barrys" are cooler.

And better looking.

[jennifer potenciano]

consider this serious point on obama's seeming "unelectability" as us president.

polls have it that mccain leads the democrats by 6 to 7 (percentage?) points. with obama alleged to be the democrats' "leading" presidential hopeful, can we then infer that obama will be walloped by mccain in november?

conversely, could we interpret from this latest data that hillary stands a better chance of beating mccain, if the democrats choose her as their nominee?

think about it.

[Julie]

Barack Obama has got my vote. He is the most trustworthy and the most authentic of all.

He is not calculating like Hilary and he truly wants to help and be a part of the healing process in America.

He is the embodimnet of the 21st century.

One heart, one vote Barack Obama!!!!!

[jennifer potenciano]

consider this serious point on obama's seeming "unelectability" as us president.

polls have it that mccain leads the democrats by 6 to 7 (percentage?) points. with obama alleged to be the democrats' "leading" presidential hopeful, can we then infer that obama will be walloped by mccain in november?

conversely, could we interpret from this latest data that hillary stands a better chance of beating mccain, if the democrats choose her as their nominee?

think about it.

[Straight Arrow]

Even though he was raised by his white mother / grand parents, the color of skin neither be erased, nor become whiter. Like almost of all the black youths, he realized during his teeage that no matter what the degree of tinge of skin color, light or lighter, black is BLACK, and naturally, stuck with the blacks. NOTHING WORTH TO MENTION IT. When I read his book, I noticed his opportunism and haughtiness over his fellow blacks' view points including the radical ideas so I wondered where he would put himself. The book was like a someone's diary but shrewdly managed to show some honesty here and there, some calculated self-painting as someone special using his friends as foils. Naively enough he thought that his skin color could appeal to the black and the white. Whatever would be his ideas never have been tested and not matured. Like the title of his book, " Memoir - " awkward to such a young yuppiie, so is the presidential campaign. The support of the Blacks comes from long-overdue Social Justice for the depraved Blacks by 'American Racism' and the support of the White comes from 'the not-have-enough-class'. They (we) have been duped and frustrated by two-terms of Bush/Cheney Administration's arrogance and yet total -incompetence plus favoring all the rich Corporations only, which are his "BASE" as he said. So they want to see something fresh. But immature and inexperienced Obama can NOT do the job. If he gets the job, it will be worse than Bush. Bless Honest America.

[William Joseph Miller]

In 1962, my hometown, Lynwood, was named the All-American City by the now defunct Look Magazine. In those days Lynwood was all-white. Most of the people in Lynwood took positive pride in banning all blacks from any kind of housing in Lynwood. When I entered one of my class the next day, I saw a comment scrawled on the chalkboard by some local wag, "Lynwood - all white, all American. Ha! Ha! Ha!?" I felt a sense of mortification, rage and shame about living in suburb that claimed to be "all American" and at the same time banned some full-blood Americans from living there.
In 1964, in response to Governor Pat Brown's passage of a fair housing law, the California Realtor's Association sponsored Proposition 14, constitutional Amendment permanently banning any fair housing law in California. Los Angeles Times supporter Proposition 14. George Putnam of Channell 11 news crusaded against fair housing. He frequently included an African-American commentator who would vociferously attack both fair housing and liberals for proposing such measures. Invariably, these African-American commentators were Black Muslims who viewed Civil Rights as a threat to their own agenda. So when I saw African-American commentators trashing Barack Obama on Fox News, I got a sense of instant reocogntion.
Ronald Reagan launched is political career by pandering to whites "disaffected" by fair housing laws. He launched his presidential bid at Philadelphia Mississippi where 3 Civil Rights workers were brutally murdered - a signal to all Dixiecrats of his opposition to Civil Rights. Many people in the core constitutency of the GOP would far sonner fly the stars and bars rather than the stars and stripes. Do I see Gregory Rodriguez or any blogger mentioning these issues? If we're going to adopt the same standards - we ought to ban the entire GOP.
I find a lot of sham and hypocrisy in the Obama haters. Without exception, they are the same type of people that scrawled that hateful message on the chalkboard. Reverend Right served his country oin the military. Yet I don't see Sean Hannity, Jonah Goldberg, or Tucker Carlson quitting their cushy media jobs to serve combat duty in Afghanistan or Iraq. Why don't they walk in Rev. Wright's shoes? Imagine that they served in the Marines like Rev. Wright. Imagine they were told in spite of their service to this country, they could not buy a house or rent an aparment in an All-American City like Lynwood. Imagine they could not eat in a restaurant in Maryland or vote in an election in Alabama. How would they feel?????
I'm still angry and ashamed when I reflect on the writing on the wall, and I'm white. Obama's speech represented a sense of patriotism and Americanism that none of his detractors possess. And whether they like it or not, Obama has defined the key issue in this election: the past vs. the future. Americans need to have the courage to step into the future, not relive the past.

[Barbara]

I will be proudly voting Obama 2008. Trinity has done much good in the community. The fact that even John Mc Cain and Mike Huckabee have defended Obama is testament that he should not be associated with his pastor's words. His church is much more than just a pastor.

Those of you going on and on and on about what he said in 2003 are being divisive and trying to drive a wedge between blacks and the rest of us. We won't let you.

[Noho Noway]

This Democrat Isn't buying the lies of OBAMA's change and HATE message. I don't support anyone that stands behind someone that wants to spread a message of discrimination white, black, yellow or brown.

[Jim]

jose, response #2 (SCREAMING IN ALL CAPS that Obama is somehow "unelectable in the general elections"):

YOU ARE FALLING FOR GOP TRICKS. THEY ATTACK OBAMA BECAUSE THEY WANT YOU TO VOTE HILLARY.

are you so naive as to believe that Hillary is more electable than Obama by listening to the GOPs now?

They are attacking Obama because they are hoping Hillary will be nominated. You are falling for their trap.

Gallup poll says: both McCain and Obama are FAR MORE TRUSTWORTHY (both are @63%) than Hillary (only 45% of people trust her).

Gallup poll says: McCain will have a tougher time against Obama than Hillary. That is a nonpartisan fact.

They are attacking Obama because they are afraid of him. They would be more than happy to take on Hillary. Listen to Rush: he's urging GOPs to pose as independents and vote for Hillary. What does THAT tell you??

[Jim]

Jennifer Potenciano:

OBAMA IS MORE ELECTABLE THAN HILLARY IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Gallup Polls say so.

You are wrong about Hillary being more electable.

Hillary (45%) IS FAR LESS TRUSTWORTHY to the US voters than Obama (62%) or McCain (63%). McCain currently leads both Obama and Hillary, but his lead is greater over Hillary.

Check for yourself on www.Gallup.com.

[tlsmith1963]

Who cares if Obama has an Arab-sounding name? Geez, why do people worry about something like that when we have an economy that is a mess, healthcare that is a mess, a war that didn't need to happen, $4 a gallon gas...need I go on? American people, why do you have your priorities all wrong? I want to do better economically, & I'm sick of waiting for a bunch of idiots who haven't got a clue! Leave Obama alone!

[Anghiari]

"In these quisling replies to Obama's remarkable speech, in the evident terror from both the GOP and the Clinton campaign that they are up against a potentially great man who must, therefore, be destroyed, we encounter again, in a different form, the politics of hate. This is hate at its most reflexive: hatred of Obama because he isn't as debased as they are, hatred for nobility and dignity and excellence because these qualities, by their very existence, condemn the GOP and Clinton
For myself, the speech lifted me up and hurled me down. It lifted me because it was intelligent, eloquent, nuanced, mature and even revelatory in its simple honesty. I could not recall the last time a politician had shown such respect for the American people, and I was thrilled to think that a person like this might actually become our president. It hurled me down because even before he had finished I found myself thinking: this guy is too good for America, too truthful, too frank, too decent, too heroic. The Clintons and the Republicans hate him for that. They call it something else, but that's what they hate him for. And what could be more terrible than that? What could paint the future of the nation in darker colors than the notion that excellence itself attracts the sharks?

The speech clarifies and confirms what we already knew, Obama is America's hope, and possibly its last hope. Because if the nation, offered by some miracle a candidate of this caliber, turns him down in the usual access of cynicism, in terror of its own better nature, it will know what it is has done, and it will know implicitly that in doing so it has renounced itself. To pick Clinton or McCain over Obama is an act of despair. It is a way saying that the country is beyond redemption, so we might as well choose a candidate who expresses our despair, a candidate who employs the same low aspirations and brutal methods that have characterized our politics for the past generation. Yes, Clinton is exceedingly bright, and perhaps quite competent, but at a moral and a spiritual level, in matters of vision and leadership, she is simply another pol. McCain, though a decent man, seems to be even less than that. Together, they represent business as usual, and for the nation, at this crucial moment, business as usual constitutes despair, a firm conviction that we can do nothing truly to right this country, reinvigorate and renew our national purpose.

I am not convinced that Obama will be a great or even a good president; the vagaries of his policies and of his commitment to battle give me real pause. But I am convinced that if we do not choose him, if we do not take the chance on this man who suggests such extraordinary possibilities, we will all know we have chosen despair. The press will not mention it, because the press in its "knowingness" is a large part of that despair. And the politicians will say nothing because it is despair that keeps them in office. Only the people, here and there, will privately express to each other their disappointment that this man, who seemed, really, of a different order, never got to lead us. And we will know that this rare opportunity, missed once, will be unlikely to offer itself again. " By Henry Bean 03/24/08

[Anee]

Now, finally the media starts vetting this guy and its too little too late because now we have an unelectable potential candidate in OB. If we had know all this Wright stuff, we wouldn't be looking at a broken convention.
Clinton is working hard while this privileged guy goes on a vacation, so much for being for the disenfranchised and the poor. What a hypocrite he is.

[Dale Meriwether]

Response to Henry Bean:
Thank you for a very lucid, moderate, and comprehensive analysis of Barack Obama.
I have added it to my collection of printed articles, analyses, etc. I share these, plus his books, with any and all who tell me that they don't know anything about Obama. Amazing!

Dale Meriwether

[olandug]

We should judge a person by actions and not their words.
The fact that Obama choose Mr. Wright as his spiritual teacher for 20 years and included Mr. Wright in his election staff speaks well for Mr. Obama’s thinking and actions. Words are easy to manipulate and it is UNLIKELY that Obama's recent speech was written by Mr. Obama anyway. Mr. Obama has a powerful and power hungry staff that will do or say anything to get him elected to power. And for those who haven’t done their homework regarding the history of cruelty of Mr. Obama’s wife to the poor and working class, I suggest you do.

But clearly this man Mr. Obama is not to be trusted with the future of our great country. And regardless that he is ‘fashionably black’ and that many of you have some desire to prove to yourself or to others that you are not prejudice and that you like ‘black people’ with an attitude of ‘See, I like black people, I’m voting for a black person,’ such an attitude of voting for a person because of their race is the definition of prejudice.
Regardless whether you are black or white, voting for a skin color is a deplorable act requiring a level of intelligence of an adolescent monkey.

But it seems to me if Mr. Obama had a lighter skin tone, there is no way he would be tolerated in as much he is aligned with a violent religious group, and never says anything substantial. And not only that, consider today’s announcement that the chief of the firm involved in the State Department’s passport breach is Obama adviser. And that Obama has been caught lying about Rezko, regarding the amount of money Rezko gave him, and that Obama still hasn't come clean about his Rezko land deal.

Just look at the kind of people Mr. Obama associates with. If Obama were to become president, what would stop Mr. Obama from appointing Mr. Wright to his cabinet? And to be sure, if anyone complained about Mr. Wright’s appointment, no doubt they would be called racist.

Mr. Obama is partly running on ‘a premise of guilt’ that if you don’t vote for him, it is because you don’t like his race. This premise is manipulative and certain to have disastrous consequences for America and the world, for we should have as our country’s leader someone with wisdom and knowledge regardless of race, not someone hungry for power for the sake of power.

Out of all the 300 million people in America, is this really who you want for president?

We were warned about an Anti-Christ for over a thousand years, now is the time to learn from that warning and prevent what seems to be a potential Anti-Christ from getting into power.

[PulSamsara]

Clinton - Forget about your bloated ego... and get out of the way of the NEW Democratic Party ! America needs a 21st Century Candidate -

Barack Obama for President of the UNITED States of America.

[r0339]

I would like Obama, Barry, or "Whatever he is called" to explain what he wants to change, beyond ending the war in Iraq and instituting national health care.

"What's it all about, Alfie?"

Just precisely what is Obama's intent for this nation? He seems to be all fluff and no substance. Sure he is a great speaker, but how will speaking solve the upcoming financial crisis?

Does this guy have ANY idea how to solve our nation's
problems?

DT

[Ardith Ann Richter]

Hi, I am 58 years old, White Female,Milwaukee Wisconsin Voter. I have read and read lots of print on all the sides of this issue. My opinion, I don't believe anyone is going to win in This Presidental Vote and the US working families are the ones that are going to take the biggest hit on the whole piece. As far as this race issue goes. Being a Swede and a German American, farming family, we worked our own lands, cared for our own babies and animals and worked hard at keep family together and healthy, you know I just don't see how what is happening to families today being the answer and most of the well paying jobs are going to someones best friend, and it doesn't have to be a race issue to see that..

[Kourian]

He's not African American. AA not only implies being of the slavery heritage but also requires being at least 1/8 African.

Obama is not 1/8 African. He's 1/16 African.

Another lie.

[Kourian]

'Clinton - Forget about your bloated ego... and get out of the way of the NEW Democratic Party ! America needs a 21st Century Candidate - Barack Obama for President of the UNITED States of America.'

PulSamsara chooming too much of that pakalolo again. Thank goodness he's underage can't vote for another six years.