That’s right — in high school, he went by “Barry.” Someone Obama knew in high school in Hawaii has thoughtfully posted his senior (class of 1979) yearbook page (along with some helpful translations of unfamiliar terms like “Choom Gang”). Ah, the 1970s…
Please share widely!
johnk says
Definately a 70’s name, I’m thinking of Barry Williams (hold on, I need to get that thought out of my brain). But using the posters definition page you might want to check out their definition instead (it’s in there).
laurel says
he’s good looking. now that is a feat!
margot says
he inhaled?
kai says
If drugs are going to derail his trip to 1600 then its not going to be the “paca lolo.”
<
p>
In his first book he talks about growing up in Hawai’i and how he and his friends used blow when they could afford it. Punahou is one of the best high schools in the country, but its also got a huge drug problem. Its nothing to be proud of, but at least he owns up to it, unlike the man he is seeking to replace.
john-howard says
It could be taken as an invitation to “own up to it”
<
p>
In general, when people break laws or sin, liberals want to tell everyone about it, and conservatives feel it should be a private shame they share only with their priest and their spouse.
john-howard says
“owning up to it” could be taken as an invitation to do it.
shiltone says
“Senator Obama, were you part of the ‘Choom Gang’, or were these acquaintances of yours? And what, specifically, were you thanking them for?”
<
p>
Based on the time (’76 – ’79) and place (Hawaii), it sounds pretty normal to me. Back then (judging from my experiences in college a few years earlier than this), anyone who wasn’t either in, or acquainted with, the “Choom Gang” or its equivalent was viewed with suspicion.
<
p>
It’s his association with this “Gramps” person that I’m a little concerned about…
ma4dem says
His names for his grandparents, with whom he lived
shiltone says
…because I so obviously didn’t do mine. I’ve learned a lot about “Barry” today.
hooks99 says
ryepower12 says
with his cheerleading outfit on better.
<
p>
<
p>
It’s good to know backstabbing and dirty play came easy to him though. I dare say he’s gotten much better at it as the years went on.
peter-porcupine says
Has ‘Barry’ ALWAYS been named Barack Obama? Or does he have what was called in my youth a ‘slave name’? Like Malcolm Little became Malcom X?
<
p>
Or were his folks in the Nation of Islam, or caught up in the Panther re-naming thing? Or were his folks immigrants?
alice-in-florida says
We won’t hurt you, but we will snicker a little at how you managed to never hear that Obama is the son of a woman from Kansas and a man from Kenya. He is African-American in rather different sense than most African Americans.
sabutai says
He’s African-American the same way that Teresa Heinz Kerry is African-American.
<
p>
No, our racial politics in this country aren’t screwed up at all.
david says
Like Margie Marshall!
tblade says
Thanks, David.
peter-porcupine says
acf says
So what? Just because he Anglicized his name at that point in his life, is meaningless. In fact, it may even have been his parents that did it. At one time, many immigrant families did so, to more smoothly integrate (or should I say blend) into the US society. Today, they have pride in their ethnic names, as well they should. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.