Bullied Barry’s “funny” name

Poor, poor President Barack Obama, whose standout big ears and “funny” name once made him the target of school yard harassment. That’s what President Barack Obama told a White House conference to address school yard bullying only yesterday. That average kids are unfairly tormented in the school yard for being fat, skinny, bespectacled or too bookish, it’s a stretch for Barack Obama to say in all seriousness that his large ears and “funny” name made him a bully target.

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Perhaps Obama’s ears are his Pinocchio nose in this case because when Obama was in school it was before the name switcheroo that took him from Barry Soetoro to Barack Hussein Obama. Soetoro is a “funnier” name than, say, Boehner, Bush or Palin? According to his own legend, Obama graduated high school as Soetoro and may have been known at Occidental College (1979-1981) as plain old Barry. Anne Dunham divorced Lolo Soetoro way back in 1980. Would Obama have the estimated 14 million victims of schoolyard bullying believe that he fled back to the dorm for a boo-hoo fest or a little toke when harassed by those bullies on campus? Meanwhile, there must be some who believe that Obama and his overbearing wife had some nerve addressing a White House conference on bullying yesterday, of all days. When it comes to power grabs and lording it over lesser others, this deadly duo of south-side Chicago community activists are the quintessential bullies. Sealing off all records of their past lives, they bullied their way to the top rung of the power ladder, where they immediately began fundamentally changing the same country that gave them the privilege of leading charmed lives. Barack Obama spent 20 plus years in front of the bully pulpit of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, only throwing the ranting reverend under the bus when he thought his longterm relationship with the hate spewing pastor might cost him votes for the presidency. Bullying comes naturally to a community activist who was a street fighter on the public purse before going into politics. Many of Obama’s close personal friends and business associates could easily fill the front row ranks of the Rogues Gallery of All Time Bullies, not the least of whom is unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Bullies, who have already stockpiled all the tools of power for one-way fights, always get their way. While Barack and Michelle were waxing noble on the topic of bullying yesterday, their supporters were creating havoc and threatening the lives of GOP members for doing their jobs in Wisconsin. But in an Obama world some bullies are more equal than others. Bullying Democrat style is all about democracy. Schoolyard bullying sometimes comes complete with tragic ends for the truly bullied and is one topic that should never be politicized for mere publicity or political gain. According to White House stats, some 13 million students, or about a third of all those in school, are bullied every year. “Experts say that puts them at greater risk of falling behind in their studies abusing drugs or alcohol, or suffering mental or other health problems. (Associated Press, March 10, 2011). “Kids who are seen as different because of their race, clothes, disability or sexual orientation are more likely to be bullied.” Any loving parent of a school age “Fatty”, “Bookworm”, “Geek” or “Dweeb” can state sincerely that bullying has nothing to do with politics. The victims of bullying are real and are in a category where politically correct shouldn’t count. Now that texting, Facebook, Twitter and other technologies are being used to carry out cyberbullying and because of the media spotlight on the tragic teens who have killed themselves to escape the harassment of bullying, it is even more tragic to politicize this societal wrong. Meanwhile, Barry Soetoro is proving daily to be the biggest bully of them all.