Does it really matter?

With the U.S. Presidential Election quickly approaching, I guess it's fitting that my post has to do with the candidates (more specifically, Barack Obama) and the issues I have with small minded people.

I received an email from a co-worker/friend that had been forwarded from one of their friends that had been forwarded from one of their friends and so on. One comment in the message really struck me [copied with grammatical errors and all]:

"I have always had a problem voting for someone that was born with an American name but changed it to not another , more appealing , American name, but to another Islamic appealing name. Thats OK ,UNLESS, you choose to run for THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and not choose to change your name back to your American given name to prove perhaps,love for your country."

Let's just get this out of the way. The name given to him at birth was Barack. It was his father's name. His nickname was Barry. Based on an article in Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/128633), Barack is an African name, not Islamic.

So, last time I checked, none of our Presidents had an "American" name. Let's go through the list, shall we?

(looked up at http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com)

First Name - Origin
Abraham - Hebrew
Andrew - Greek
Benjamin - Hebrew
Calvin - French
Chester - Latin
Dwight - English
Franklin - English
George - Greek
Gerald - Germanic
Grover - English
Harry - Germanic
Herbert - German
James - Hebrew
John - Hebrew
Lyndon - English
Martin - Latin
Millard - English
Richard - French
Ronald - Norse
Rutherford - English
Theodore - Greek
Thomas - Aramaic
Ulysses - Greek
Warren - Germanic
William - Germanic
Woodrow - English
Zachary - Hebrew

Hmmm...I didn't see one name with an American origin.

When I looked for names with an American English origin at Baby Names World, I found names such as Bubba, Fable, Kodiak, Scout and Seven. I think I'll name my kid Tron...it was a cool movie.

Apparently this person has some insider information that I, or probably most of the country, wasn't aware of. When did one of the requirements of Presidency become "You must have an American sounding name"? Here's a snippet of Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution (the part that talks about the Election, Installation, Removal of the President):

"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States."

Nothing in there about the person's name...or their religion for that matter. (by the way, he's a Christian, not Islamic or Muslim. Not that it matters, though. Right?)

I'm tired of the fact that most Americans shrink in fear or violently lash out because of the Middle Eastern, or Muslim, or "someone different than you" family that moved in down the street or next door. So what? Did they do anything to you? Did they hurt you, torture you, kill your cat? No? They just moved in and live quietly? Just because they are Middle Eastern, or Muslim, or different than you, that doesn't make them terrorists out to get your family. Maybe if you actually take the time to know them you'll find out they're really not much different from you and want the same things out of life.

I guess that, in the end, my question is: Does it really matter? If someone came along and they were the perfect candidate...could solve all the worlds problems with the blink of an eye. No more taxes, made money and food appear on every table. Rid the world of homelessness, starvation, acne. If someone could do all that, would it still matter if the person's name was Yasir or Rafiki or Abdul or even Helen? I'd like to think it wouldn't, but something tells me it would.





And yes, Governor Palin, I do thank the veterans for the fact that I have the right to protest, bitch, moan, groan and vote for someone based on their qualifications, not based on their name or religious affiliation.