# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/21 "2006-12-20T01:29:40Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
BTW; I’m hoping for Hillary.
[/QUOTE]
Me, too.
“President McCain” or “President Giuliani.”
Either is OK with me.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/22 "2006-12-20T01:40:32Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem]
Sorry for the misspelling of your name, **Oakminster**.
Q
[/QUOTE]
PISTOLS AT DAWN!
Or not. I’m not really a morning person. 😃
Not sure what the answer to the problem is. If I were on the election strategy team, I might suggest trying to include his title as much as possible…Senator Obama said/did whatever. I’d be hoping even the fuckiest fuckwits would realize that Osama is not a U.S. Senator. Not sure I’d be willing to place an even money wager on it though…
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### Author:  [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/23 "2006-12-20T01:40:58Z")
This is one of those issues that I hope won’t make a big difference, but I have a sinking feeling that it actually might.
I can only hope that the morons who wouldn’t vote for him because of his name, just like those who wouldn’t vote for him because of his skin color, probably wouldn’t be caught dead voting for a Democrat anyway.
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/24 "2006-12-20T01:47:56Z")
That’s why Barak should change his name to something American like DeShawn Jenkins.
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### Author:  [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/25 "2006-12-20T01:48:55Z")
Prior to the 2004 elections I occasionally heard some jackass on the O’Really Factoid who always called him “Obama Baracka.” Subtle, huh?
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/26 "2006-12-20T01:49:20Z")
[QUOTE=Rysdad]
Me, too.
“President McCain” or “President Giuliani.”
Either is OK with me.
[/QUOTE]
Okay, slick. I get it. 😉
Problem is, Bush has pretty much ruined any chance for either of them.
But those two would be my choices to go down to whatever Democrat does get the nomination. For it to be Clinton would just be icing on the cake.
I can dream, if I can just zen these idiots out of my mind. 😛
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/27 "2006-12-20T02:01:31Z")
It could work both ways.
We had a promise from our current president (and anyone who runs on his party ticket will get tarred with his brush) to catch Osama. We didn’t.
I think anyone who wouldn’t vote for Obama because of the name wouldn’t vote for any non-male WASPY politician…this gives them a convienient excuse.
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### Author:  [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/28 "2006-12-20T02:04:47Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
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”.
[/QUOTE]
Jesus Christ. I’m just going to pretend that you’re a dirty liar and this episode never happened. I have to retain _some_ kind of faith in my fellow man.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/29 "2006-12-20T02:19:26Z")
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac]
Jesus Christ. I’m just going to pretend that you’re a dirty liar and this episode never happened. I have to retain _some_ kind of faith in my fellow man.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I’d like to “show” you 🙂 , but I think that if you kinda ask around you’ll find some similar sentiment. I was surprised.
Your faith is well placed. Guys like my pal are in the minority.
Part of the problem is that, if you watch shows like Sean Hannity, you can get wrapped up in that kind of mindset. Instead, I had my cable disconnected.
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/30 "2006-12-20T02:21:45Z")
God, some of us humans are stupid.
I miss the early 1980s when I could say I was pro-bush all the way, and it didn’t have a political meaning.
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/31 "2006-12-20T02:26:40Z")
His name isn’t like **real** American names like:
Kennedy
Byrne
O’Sullivan
McCarthy
Regan
Clinton
Smith
Green
Agnew
Van Buren
Warszawski
Adesida
Kim
and on and on…
America is a country made up of children of all nationalities isn’t it? That’s what the US is kinda all about on some level, isn’t it?.
I’d take it as a ringing endorsement of Obama myself. The wanker in the OP is going to vote against him anyway most likely. He’s not a possible GOP candidate so no vote that way by default. The only thing he can see to attack the guy on though is his name!?
Ha. If this is the argument from the hardcore moron right then game on. Give Obama the ticket and he’s gonna take the White House. For every one of the OP’s morons there are thousands who just want a good intelligent leader because they have seen first hand what a bad leader means in the long term. Those thousands will not care one jot about what the guy is called.
Early days but this sounds good to me(from a interested foreign perspective).
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### Author:  [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/32 "2006-12-20T02:41:49Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem]
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
[/QUOTE]
Bolding mine. Before or after he left his wife who was dieing of cancer?
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/33 "2006-12-20T03:24:31Z")
[QUOTE=brownie55]
Bolding mine. Before or after he left his wife who was dieing of cancer?
[/QUOTE]
Both. If you’re making an accusation, make it, but be sure you know the complete story.
Quasi
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/34 "2006-12-20T03:44:04Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
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.
[/QUOTE]
The funniest of the “Vilsack sounds like AFLAC” jokes was at the beginning of last night’s show. After the running gag of Jon forgetting his name and the duck reminding him (as in the AFLAC ads), Jon announced that tonight’s guest will be…and then he forgot. The duck pipes in and chimes:
(in a refined British voice) “Governor Tom Vilsack, Democrat of Iowa.”
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/35 "2006-12-20T03:51:10Z")
Around here when he was running for office, Obama cracked a joke to the effect of a skinny black kid with a funny name making it in politics, people laughed, and he won with something like 70% of the vote. The only slur I heard about him was a coworker of my husband’s who, back when Jack Ryan was still the Republican candidate, said he wasn’t “gonna vote for no nigger.” Yeah, that worked out - after Ryan’s scandal and dropping out of the race, the IL GOP dragged in a carpetbagger from the East Coast, Alan Keyes. Yeah, another black guy. The not-entirely-joking view was that he was the closest Republican they could find who would be willing to throw himself under the bus for the state’s GOP.
Oh, and apparently at the beginning of his run, some out-of-staters would do double-takes upon seeing the “Obama” campaign buttons.
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### Author:  [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/36 "2006-12-20T03:54:10Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
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.
mangeorge
[/QUOTE]
My stomach hurts. I’ve run out of superlatives for the flabbergastedness that such utter stupidity causes in me.
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### Author:  [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/37 "2006-12-20T04:18:06Z")
I dont know how to link to the audio, but the Bob Rivers show in Seattle did a (wo)man on the street bit thats worth listening to. Click [here](http://www.bobrivers.com/audiovault/showclips/clipsbydate.asp?Var=alpha&Page=1) and look for _Kaci goes K Walking to ask: Obama or Osama?_, airdate 12/15/06.
The man’s got some work to do. I dont know if he could be elected president in '08, but I would love to see him as VP and run in '16. For me, he represents the future that America should embrace, but that I am not sure it will.
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### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/38 "2006-12-20T04:45:34Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’]
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.
[/QUOTE]
Or perhaps it might be [Ted Kennedy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APx2YJ-_jos).
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### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/39 "2006-12-20T04:52:09Z")
Last week on the Ed Scultz radio show, Senator Obama was asked about the Name issue, pertaining to his middle name, Hussein, and I was impressed with his dealing with it with calm grace: From [this site](http://www.runobama.com/blog/?gclid=CKSYk6TWiokCFQtRGgodK2U0nw) , an Obama blog site, hope that’s kosher, only place I could find the quote; it’s accurate:
> [@](#):
>
> It would be one thing if my name was john hussein smith. But when you’re already starting with barack obama…let me put it this way, if my names going to be an issue, then i don’t think my middle name is relevant for those voters who are going to judge me on the basis of my name…One more strike against me in the name category.
>
> Not going to be of concern because the American people are not concerned about middle names. What the American people are concerned about is who can deliver a vision that moves us forward and allows them and their children to fulfill their aspirations. And if you can deliver that message and show them you’re going to be fighting on their behalf.
Left out was that he said it was his father’s and grandfather’s name as well. So, he’s supposed to erase his history? He handled it so straightforward and decently, without any yammering or crappy sound-bite speak. How refreshing!
There’s the other little snipe going around; some pundit called him a “Halfrican American” Ain’t enough :rolleyes: for that. Grow the Hell Up.
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-sounds-like-osama/384853/40 "2006-12-20T05:03:12Z")
[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]
**Lightnin’** , and wasn’t it Fox News that started calling Bin Laden **U** sama for a while? What was up with _that_?
And I have to agree with you: Let him do just _one_ thing his opponents disagree with, and out will come “Osama”.
I also agree with **Oakminster’s** solution, which is to add the word “Senator” to the man’s name to offset the stupidity (negativity) which will be associated with it.
Q
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