The Name Game

Today as Sen. Barack Obama prepared to make what was billed by his campaign as a major address on patriotism, I once more found on a discussion board the baseless name-bashing that has continually crept its way into political discussion. I find it absolutely infuriating. I'm talking about the rant that I've heard too many times to count over the past year--that Barack Hussein Obama's name is evidence of his hidden anti-American, militant Muslim identity.

Disclaimer: Let me assure readers that what I am about to say is not an endorsement of any political party or candidate. It is rather an appeal for reasoned dialogue rather than ruthless bashing via senseless logic.

The argument, though it may be found in several variations, typically goes something like this. Obama's last name is basically the same as Osama bin Laden's first name, simply changing the second letter. It would then seem that there must be some religious or ideological connection between Obama the American senator and bin Laden, the Islamic terrorist leader. This reasoning is further affirmed by Obama's middle name Hussein, which just happens to be the exact same name as the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, also a known Muslim. And the name Barack, well that doesn't sound very friendly either. So off the argument goes to verify the shady nature of Obama's name. Put this together with the fact that Obama's father was African and that the senator did not spend all his growing-up years in the States, and we round out a good start to the argument circling that Obama is secretly an anti-American, militant Muslim gearing up to overtake this "Christian"nation. To put the argument in the exact words of those who make it, here is the exact quote I read this morning by a man who calls himself Manolete:

"Obama Osama will say whatever he has to say to overtake the government of the United States of America, so that he and his radical extremists and black supremacists associates can destroy the american values and our way of living.
"Obama, Osama, Osama, Obama,.....there is only one word difference between them.....who is the real Obama?"

Part of me realizes this is such an outlandish argument that there is no point in dignifying it enough to give a response. Does any intelligent person actually put weight in such nonsense? But like the husband who fights with his wife by throwing cheap shots at every opportunity, I have heard this fear-based tactic used more times than I can keep track of. It keeps coming up. And what concerns me further is that I have heard people I know bring it up in conversation. To take it two steps even closer, these are people in my church and in my family. So reluctantly I pick the issue up and ask us to cut right to the chase.

If we are looking to Barack Hussein Obama's name for a clue to his true identity, we must consider his first name ... first. This is especially true since it is a name not just inherited in the same manner any of us got stuck with our last names, be they Johnson, Bekius, Oladipo, or Chavez. Rather his first name is the one his parents chose to define him more than any other. That name is Barack. I'm curious if any of us (especially the Christians in the room) have read our Bibles enough for this name to ring home. Why? Because it's one of those good biblical names--you know, the kind you name your kids after, in hopes that one day their life and character would reflect that of the biblical character.

The truth about Barack is this. He is a biblical hero. Barack the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali lived in the first half of the Twelfth Century BCE, as found in the book of Judges 4-5. When Jabin the Canaanite king and Sisera, the commander of his army posed a dangerous threat to Israel's existence, Deborah asked Barack to lead the army against their enemies. Though reluctant, he said yes. And at the end of the day, Barack is memorialized in Hebrews 11 as one of the great examples of Jewish (and subsequently Christian) faith. Only 16 individuals are mentioned here by name. Right there with Moses, David, Abraham, and Samuel, Barack is lifted up to be imitated as one of great faith. On a side note: the fact that in most of our English translations, his name reads as "Barak" without the C is incidental since Judges was written in the Hebrew language and can be effectively translated "Baraq," "Barack," or "Barak."

So what am I trying to say here? Am I positing that this is the reason Obama's parents named him Barack? That he was raised reading the Bible and being molded in the faith of his Jewish and Christian ancestors? No. I'm not saying this at all. In fact, it seems pretty clear that this is definitely not what happened. I'm simply showing that, first of all, Barack is a great name that brings with it a legacy of faithful living. And secondly, I am demonstrating that just as we can derive Muslim influences from Obama's name, so we can also derive Jewish and Christian ones.

But my real goal more than anything else is to show us the folly of demanding that a person's character, motives, and actions fall in line with their name. Especially in today's world, people are given names for a wide variety of reasons. My birthname, first and middle, is Andrew Joe. My parents simply called me Andy. The "meaning" of Andrew is "strong, manly, brave," but I'm pretty sure that people who know me would not characterize me by these terms. But even if they did, they are not the reason why I was named as I was. When she was pregnant, my mom had a crush on a singer named Andy Gibb, but this is not the source of my name either. Truth be told, she just liked the name Andy (and even considered keeping AndyJoe together as testimony to the Redneck in my line). My parents named me Andrew Joe simply because they liked the sound of it. It didn't mean anything.

And so it is with Barack Obama. Let's stop playing games with his names. If he says he's not Muslim, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. And if the origin of his last name scares you a little, keep in mind the origin of his first. But besides all this, let's keep the debate to issues of substance. To issues that matter. To issues of leadership ability and of policy, be it economy, the Iraq war, abortion, gay marriage, gun control, education, environment, energy, etc. Whether from the Left or the Right, let's keep the debate going, but let's keep it going in a productive direction.

That way I could actually use this blog for something useful.