Don’t judge just based on a name

Edwin E. Powell
Published: July 3, 2008

There are many ways to judge a presidential candidate. Such things as honesty, integrity, intelligence, judgment, compassion, statesmanship, managerial ability, leadership, strength of character, service
to community or the nation, morals, ideology, criminal record, addictions or past addictions to alcohol or drugs, love of country (patriotism vs nationalism), educational achievements, honors, marital
fidelity, foreign policy experience, crisis management ability, emotional stability, ability to inspire and devotion to human rights, the quality of the environment, ridding the world of poverty and ignorance.

Those are the things I consider when I walk into the voting booth.

I never consider things like the meaning of the candidate’s name, since the candidate has no control over the name he or she was given at birth.

I also do not consider other factors such as race or gender because those are also factors over which the candidate has no control. Apparently, Sandi Teets (What’s in a presidential candidate’s name,
Potomac New/Manassas Journal Messenger, June 28) prefers to judge people by the meaning of their names.

She apparently judges a book by its cover without ever opening the book to read its contents. She obviously is afraid of people with Islamic sounding names since she says, “Hussein (a son of Islam) or
the newer and nicer sounding meaning...”(emphasis added). She prefers to make assumptions based upon the fear her dogs have of lightning.

Thus she reasons that since “Barack” means, according to her research, “Lightning bolt” and her dogs sense that lightning is bad, Obama must be “bad.” Is it any wonder that we elect presidents like
George W. Bush with reasoning such as this? Congratulations to Ms. Teets, she has brought the level of political discourse in Prince William County to a new low. I wonder what her name means? 

Does she have reddish brown hair? That was the meaning I found for the name “Sandi” and I won’t even try discuss the meaning of “Teets,” since there was only one I could find and I won’t go there.

EDWIN E. POWELL

Woodbridge