# Obama sounds like Osama!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [December 20, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853 "2006-12-20T00:12:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/1 "2006-12-20T00:12:56Z")
There’s this guy at work who, in spite of being such a conservative, seems like a pretty decent person. Which is why I’m having trouble believing something he has said.
We were talking about who may be in the running for president in '08. I mentioned Barack Obama and he sorta came unglued. He couldn’t believe people would vote for him because of “All our men dying over there”.
Huh? Aside from the often forgotten fact that there are a lot more dying there than our “men”, what the hell does that have to do with Obama? The guy is an American, born in Hawaaii for crissakes. I think “this can’t be because their names sound sorta similar, can it?”
Well, guess what. He will not vote for Obama for just that reason. At first I chuckled, thinking he was messing with my liberal old head. But no. In fact he said a lot of people agreed with him. They don’t like Obama because of the sound of his name. To vote for him would be sorta traitorous and send a “wrong message” to our troups. So I checked around, and yes, there are those who feel the same way.
Fucking Idiots.
BTW; I’m hoping for Hillary.
Peace,
mangeorge
---
### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/2 "2006-12-20T00:22:14Z")
That’s why Kerry lost. Sounds too much like “fairy”.
-Joe
---
### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/3 "2006-12-20T00:24:00Z")
I really wish I could say that was the dumbest thing I’ve heard this week. Sadly, it isn’t.
---
### Author:  [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/4 "2006-12-20T00:25:45Z")
You mean Barack Hussein Obama? Who could him with a furriner?
The name is all most people know about him.
He’s not a household name just because he appears on all network news every night.
---
### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/5 "2006-12-20T00:29:38Z")
It’s just a matter of time, really, 'til some right-wing blogger- or possibly even Fox News- “mistakenly” calls him Osama. Kinda like “accidentally” calling Foley a Democrat.
Everything I’ve read about the guy sounds pretty good to me. It’s just a shame that his name is probably going to affect his chances of nomination and election.
---
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/6 "2006-12-20T00:32:06Z")
Ummmm, just because _somebody_ has to, I will ask it.
What would be the subliminal implications of the sound-alike names at the ballot box?
Keeping in mind that most of us are open-minded and would know better, how many might _not_ vote for the man because of the way your co-worker thinks?
Q
---
### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/7 "2006-12-20T00:41:46Z")
So…because Bush rhymes with Tush, the country was really voting for an ass?
Maybe that’s not the best example…
---
### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/8 "2006-12-20T00:43:21Z")
Better hope that your cow-orker doesn’t get relocated to the capital of Nebraska.
---
### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/9 "2006-12-20T00:45:17Z")
Back in 2000 the choice was: would you rather have some Bush or have some Gore?
---
### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/10 "2006-12-20T00:47:28Z")
… HUH.
Here I thought it was just a Daily Show joke. (For those who haven’t seen it, they were doing a thing about Obama and how he’s apparently so damned popular and Jon feigned surprise that someone whose first name rhymes with Iraq, whose middle name is Hussein, and whose last name sounds like Osama would be so popular.)
---
### Author:  [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/11 "2006-12-20T00:52:25Z")
I think the combination of:
A) Having the same middle name as the last name of an evil dictator
and
B) Having a last name that sounds like the first name of a terrorist
will be all that some people need to make up their mind that he is really one of those evil Muslims and therefore can’t be trusted. I wish it weren’t true but I truly believe that this is the level of thought that many of our citizens put into deciding who to vote for.
---
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/12 "2006-12-20T00:59:31Z")
But I thought he pronounced it Throat-Warbler Mangrove…
Oh, come _on_! You know you wanted to…
---
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/13 "2006-12-20T01:01:17Z")
Tom Vilsack may want to reconsider . . .
---
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/14 "2006-12-20T01:02:35Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster]
So…because Bush rhymes with Tush, the country was really voting for an ass?
Maybe that’s not the best example…
[/QUOTE]
😃😃😃
Well, maybe _this_ example might help clarify my point a little:
What if some guy named (Oh, let’s call him _Vic_, just for the hell of it) _Hitler_ had been running against Angela Merkel as chancellor of Germany?
How much of the Jewish vote might he have gotten?
Yeah, I _know_ the last names are an exact match whereas in Obama’s case they aren’t, but I still think that Obama’s staff would have a meeting and ask each other, “So how are we gonna handle the sound-alike names?”
And **Okaminster** , I’m not critical of your answer at all, and I admit I have no knowledge in political psychology, but I did help get my former college professor elected to Congress. His name is Newt Gingrich. (I take no responsibility for what happened to him as Speaker, but I still respect the guy.)
So I do find this interesting.
Thanks
Q
---
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/15 "2006-12-20T01:05:15Z")
Sorry for the misspelling of your name, **Oakminster**.
Q
---
### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/16 "2006-12-20T01:12:10Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Tom Vilsack may want to reconsider . . .
[/QUOTE]
Did you catch him on The Daily Show last night? Back when Vilsack announced, Stewart joked on Vilsack’s name using the AFLAC duck. Last night, Vilsack gave Jon an AFLAC duck toy and said he wasn’t going to duck the name issue.
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/17 "2006-12-20T01:17:32Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster]
So…because Bush rhymes with Tush, the country was really voting for an ass?
Maybe that’s not the best example…
[/QUOTE]
I wish it was simply “rhymes with”. But it’s “sounds like”, which in this case is quite different. These people say voting for Obama is akin to voting for Osama.
I asked around. Quite a few were sympathetic to the idea. :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/18 "2006-12-20T01:18:52Z")
To be fair, isn’t Hussein basically the “Smith” of the Middle East?
---
### Author:  [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/19 "2006-12-20T01:20:41Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’]
It’s just a matter of time, really, 'til some right-wing blogger- or possibly even Fox News- “mistakenly” calls him Osama.
[QUOTE]
Actually it was Ted Kennedy, though Rush Limbaugh did set Kennedy’s flub to music. “Osama Obama” to the tune of “La Bamba.”
[http://www.spectator.org/dsp\_article.asp?art\_id=10567](http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10567)
Kinda funny, actually.
---
### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/20 "2006-12-20T01:22:46Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia]
To be fair, isn’t Hussein basically the “Smith” of the Middle East?
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but you’re focusing on the “Smith” part of that sentence, while the fucktards are focusing on the “Middle East” (You know, where the terrorists come from) part.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853.md?page=2)