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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Meet Barry Obama

A couple of weeks ago I was on a radio program and one of the callers wanted to know my opinion on Sen. Barack Obama changing his name from "Barry" Obama. The host and I looked at each other and shrugged shoulders. We never heard of Sen. Obama referred to as Barry Obama before.

Turns out the caller knew more than we did. This week's cover story in Newsweek magazine is called "When Barry Became Obama."

You can read the story online if you don't subscribe, but it details Obama's struggle for identity during his college years. He grew up as "Barry" Obama, but decided to return to his traditional African name.

From the article:
"It's clear that he was trying to fit in somehow, but not in the way of his father's generation. He wanted to be taken seriously, perhaps to rebel against the compromises blacks and others were expected to make in a white-dominated society. But more generally, he was also looking for a community that would accept him as he was, inside and out."
Interesting stuff.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Barry or Barack really doesn't matter. What people should be looking into is Barack Hussein Obama's relationship and ties to his cousin Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya and Barack's step-brother Abongo (RoY) Obama. Both are militant Muslim extremists in Kenya and avowed Marxists who advocate black supremacy. It is through their influence that Barry Obama chose to return to his African roots and, thus, his traditional African name.