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"A Rose (Barack) by Any Other Name...."
[NOTE: I just posted this on the Official Obama Campaign Website, Where I Maintain a Blog.]
As ludicrous as it surely seems to most Americans, there apparently is a not-insignificant portion of the voting public who has doubts about the candidate's "Americanism."
And it's an issue that, like the Wright relationship, will not just die a natural death due to the silence of the Obama campaign.
Remember back a few months when the media was feasting on the "news" that Barack had for a long time in his youth gone by the first name "Barry?" Trivial story for sure.
My own first name, "Fredrick" (no "e" between Fred and rick because my father thought Fredrick looked and sounded stronger than Frederick, and I agree with him,) is nowhere as unique as "Barack." Yet I have gone by Fred or Freddy my entire life, much less intimidating, much less Germanic than my full first name.
To my ear and to my eyes, both "Barack" and "Fredrick" register as patently assertive, vaguely intimidating first names. Cool with me; but maybe not with the "masses." Add the additional characteristic of a somewhat foreign-sounding tinge to "Barack" and something this silly could cost a guy the Presidency.
The following is going to sound so superficial that I'm almost embarrassed to write it, but here goes: would the candidate consider resurrecting, at least from time to time, "Barry?" How can anyone be suspicious of a guy named "Barry?" Or at least nicknamed "Barry," much as I am nicknamed "Fred" or "Freddy"?
Barry is approachable, a regular guy...so is Freddy; Barack and Fredrick aren't.
I'm talking about just injecting "Barry" into the discourse from time to time. "Yeah," Obama could say, "my old friends from the hood still call me Barry, as does my mother," for example.
Humanize the candidate somewhat. He's too good-looking, too smart, too eloquent, too well educated, too well tailored...and his first name is too intimidating and too unusual.
You can't make him ugly, you can't make him dumb, you can't un-educate him and he sure ain't gonna dress like a hick...but an occasional Barry may go a long way to making him "one of the boys."
MyBlog: http://ProteanPerspectives.blogspot.com
Comments (20)
going to have to disagree with you, as I'm against all forms of politics-as-marketing.
And c'mon, you can't tell me that the phrase, "my old friends from the hood still call me Barry, as does my mother" doesn't sound contrived.
June 13, 2008 9:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not only that, but Barack's mother Stanley Ann can no longer call Barack "Barry", as she has unfortunately passed on.
Who TF cares what his name is except for Fox News anymore?
His name is Barack Hussein Obama. Barack Obama for short. Get over it.
Me, I shortened my name. It was my choice and I don't regret it. But if I were to run for political office someday, I'd make damn sure that everyone knew my name and knew I was proud of it. All eight syllables.
June 13, 2008 9:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
LisB,
If you read the post with any degree of care or intelligence, the first paragraph of it alone would show you how ignorant your reply is.
Sorry for the bluntness.
FB
June 13, 2008 9:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fredrick, with all due respect, I read it before I posted.
June 13, 2008 9:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry. Perhaps it was your statement:
Perhaps it was that which got me a little fired up. AS IF Obama has been silent. As IF you need to bring up, quote "the Wright relationship". As IF you need to act like a concerned and caring Obama supporter from day one.
As if.
June 13, 2008 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
LisB,
I am NOT an Obama supporter, nor a McCain supporter. That's why my posts are equally positive or negative about both of them.
As for Wright, I know Obama acted; he had to. This crazy issue the Right is raising about his "Americanism" is another one he needs to address, both explicitly and implicitly...the Barry thing was a subtle way of starting.
And please let me state this: I have the utmost respect for Obama's achievements thus-far, his intelligence, and, most of all, his physical courage to run.
FB
June 13, 2008 9:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
FB
"...and, most of all, his physical courage to run."
I'm still trying to figure out why that last sentence bothers me so much.
Does McCain require physical courage to run too? Or is it just Barack. If it's just Barack, why?
June 13, 2008 11:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um, are you the same person who thanked Lis et al for their polite response to your lazy post about "who is Caroline Kennedy and why the heck is Obama using her to vet his vp" because you didn't know anything about her and didn't bother to inform yourself?
I won't go back to your post, but you said something like "That's what I like about TPM; you get polite and infomed responsed to your questions."
So then you tell Lis she is ignorant because she disagrees with your self-admitted shallow idea of Barack changing his name to Barry to please you and all the other superficial people who just can't wrap their little brains around a foreign-sounding name like Barack.
Yeah. 6 months before the election, this adult should change his name and that would reassure all the people who don't bother to inform themselves about the candidate that he REALLY is an American. Brilliant!
Well, you did say one thing right:
yes it did
you should have been TOO embarassed to write it:
I'm glad you like your own shortened name, but frankly I think Fred and Freddy sound like a little kid. In this case, a little kid who is full of himself.
And BTW, I wouldn't have ever posted this if you hadn't landed with both feet on Lis. She was just stating her opinion.
June 13, 2008 11:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
CVD,
Yep...that was me.
FB
June 14, 2008 12:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Something must be in the air. I just wrote a piece arguing that Obama's last name is one of his great virtues, and by extension, his unique first name. Why? More than one reason. But one big one: those of us who have non-Anglo sounding names have been waiting year for this. And we are growing in numbers.
"Obama: It's the Name, Stupid"
http://msa4.wordpress.com/
June 14, 2008 3:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
C0012,
It sounds contrived because I contrived it.
I understand your point. My post is written from the perspective of a political consultant, though I am not one.
FB
June 13, 2008 9:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Therein lies the problem. {erhaps leave it to the pros?
Sometimes it is the name that makes all the difference. Sure, a grandiflora might smell as sweet, but you want to give your sweetheart roses on Valentine's Day, not poseys. A rose is a rose... but only if it really is one to begin with.
Would Winston Churchill be as memorable as Winnie? Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Frankie?
Martin Luther King, Jr. as Marty? Thomas Jefferson, Tommy? Jim Monroe or Jim Madison? Johnny Adams Junior? Abraham "Hambone" Lincoln? There was a reason that Nancy called President Reagan "Ronnie" but no one else did. Jimmy Carter we liked -- well some of us -- but he signed his name James Earl Carter...
What people like about Barack Obama is that he is "authentic." Changing his name or coming up with an inauthentic nickname just doesn't work.
June 13, 2008 11:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Senator Obama, and President Obama will suffice. How has he managed to get this far without
your guidance. He has a brilliant campaign team, that has him leading McCain in the polls.
It isn't broke, so they do not need you to fix it.
Who's side are you on. Do really want
him to take the Swiftboaters' bait,and start changing his image each time they try
to lure him into doing so.
June 13, 2008 10:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
liam,
I am on my side.
I am neither an Obama nor a McCain supporter.
Any reading of the numerous blogs/posts of mine on TPM will demonstrate that I am non-partisan.
He has so far, only needed to attract Democrat votes. My comments apply to the General Election.
This post, as I said in an earlier reply, was written from the perspective of a political consultant to the Obama campaign, which I am not.
Nowhere in my original post do I suggest he sell his soul for victory, just a little piece of it. ;)
FB
June 13, 2008 10:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Freddie, my boy,
How did Joe, Chris, John, Dennis, Bill, and Mike fare against Barack?
Admit it. You just posted your brain fart.
June 14, 2008 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
liam,
He's in a different ballpark now. So far, his task was to capture the most votes/delegates in the Dem primaries, which he obviously did very well.
Now the fences have been moved. He needs to attract a much more diverse votership than those who vote in Dem primaries. This is just a fact, it's not my wish or anything like that.
Do I personally like his name? Yes. Do I think it will speak well of America to have a prez with his full name? Yes.
But I'm also aware that my opinion may not be shared with possibly 10's of millions of voters, at least some of whom Obama needs to win.
The irony of the situation where an African-American presidential candidate has to refute charges of his "elitism" doesn't escape me either.
Only in America....
FB
June 14, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I understand where you're coming from, FB, but I think your proffered solution would simply have him a laughing stock: it's unthinkable - he'd look such a hypocrite. Everyone would see through it.
His campaign's aware of the problem and is going all out to try to correct it. They're apparently going to feature him at his grandfather's grave.
There are some people for whom it's too late: they've made up their mind that he doesn't have a deep love for America and nothing he says or does now will change that.
Hopefully the campaign's awareness and their strategies to try to combat the impression will work with the people who aren't fixated.
BTW I do understand why many people won't be convinced. Having grown up in different countries and lived in both England, Australia and America, I think I understand Obama's `makeup` on this. Living in different countries, especially as a child, means you don't have the visceral `my country right or wrong` type of patriotism (that I think equates to nationalism). Far more you have the awareness that most countries have wonderful things to offer and things you don't like.
That doesn't mean you don't love a country - it just means you don't experience that love in quite the same way - the way that says no country could ever match up to this. We know that many countries do - just in different ways.
I do think that makes Obama different from most Americans. I think it's led him into some mistakes and may well do so again. For instance I think that not growing up in America means that Obama doesn't have grounded in him viscerally the `American Excellence` tradition. It can lead him to occasionally express himself in ways that are intuitive, so that only later does he realise they would have been better said differently. eg in Oregon talking about climate change etc he said America had to get away from `superiority`. That feeds straight into the GOP trap. Instead he could have said `As the leader of the free world we should be emphasising that we are first among equals, not the bullyboy of the world` or something like that. Something that keeps both camps happy. These things he says are fine with his liberal base - they don't have a single problem with it - but it's the centrist and slightly conservative people, especially those without much education, that he has to win over.
He is innately an international creature. It gets him into trouble sometimes. Here's hoping enough Americans are so sick of the Bush/neocon experience that they'll make allowances for him and want to capture the advantages of his experience rather than punishing him for his difference.
Quite honestly, I think those people for whom this patriotic issue is crucial have already made up their minds - those Jeremiah Wright clips said it all for them - and they won't be moved on it.
I think the big issue is that are there many people - the sort who didn't bother to vote in the primaries - who weren't taking much notice of politics during the primaries - who will start to take notice after the conventions and can be got at by the 527's.
Did you see the post at Daily Kos? That Rove's working with the 527's and they have $200m already to spend on these ads?
June 13, 2008 10:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I understand where you're coming from, FB, but I think your proffered solution would simply have him a laughing stock: it's unthinkable - he'd look such a hypocrite. Everyone would see through it."
The people this ploy would be targeted at are too stupid to see through it.
The rest of your post was informative. Thanks.
FB
June 14, 2008 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll direct you to this clip. Obama appears at the end. He pretty much answers your question.
June 14, 2008 12:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
"there apparently is a not-insignificant portion of the voting public who has doubts about the candidate's "Americanism.""
These impenetrably ignorant bigots probably consider Bush a great American.
June 14, 2008 7:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
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