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I have to respectfully disagree. The right wing attacks that are beginning to increase in their intensity and their vociferousness against Obama are largely based on fluff themselves, such as where his hand was during a pledge, where he went to school, and his name.
As he is likely the Democratic candidate for president at this point, the attacks will become far, far worse. Ultimately, do these attacks create a cultural meme creating fear in the large portion of the electorate not closely following politics? In other words, would a presidency be decided on something as innocuous as a NAME? Sadly, I think this is entirely possible.
Articles such as these help to provide those of us who support this candidate (such as myself) with ammunition to deflect these attacks. And frankly, it is interesting to learn about the origins and meaning of names anyway. Names are very powerful things, and we neglect this truth at our own peril.
Will some people still vote against a candidate over a name? Yes, of course. But I would much prefer a candidate losing over issues of substance, such as withdrawal policies in Iraq.
