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Iran: Obama's Iranian ancestors

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Iran, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Government & Politics, History, International Relations, Media & Internet, War & Conflict

Jokingly, Iranians have come up with their own theory about the roots of Democratic Party's presidential contender Barack Obama. Soon enough the joke took another turn, and an ultra-conservative paper announced that Obama's great grandparents originally came from Iran and that his real family name was Ab Ba Ma, meaning water with us, in Farsi.

Several bloggers such as Avaye Ashna reported [1] [Fa] that Keyhan [2], an ultra conservative journal in Iran that specialises in writing conspiracy stories about Iranian intellectuals and the West, reported recently that: “Obama's great grand parents were from Iran. They came from southern city Boushehr and their real family name was Ab ba ma (which translates to water with us in Farsi) before it was changed to Obama. They moved from Iran to Africa and then they immigrated to the USA. His grandfather was in the camel business but when this trade was banned in the USA, they became broke!”

Why would Keyhan report such a story? Well, according to Avayeh Ashana and several other bloggers, a few days before this surreal article appeared in the journal, Ay Tanz, a humor site published [3] [Fa] it. But Keyhan confused the joke with reality and ran it as a serious story!

In other matters, Obama should do his homework when it comes to Iran, says ZaneIrani, who thinks [4] that the candidate does not know Iran well enough. The blogger adds:

“Barack Obama needs a reality check! In his latest statement he has talked about tiny Iran. Tiny Iran? Mister! Iran is on the verge of being a nuclear power, is one of the top five oil gas countries in the world, and 70,000,000 population is not even comparable to Cuba, and Venezuela.”

In another post, she says [5] that Former US Vice President “Dan Quayle [6] misspelled one word and he was ridiculed for more than four years, while Obama has piled up worse mistakes but that mainstream media won't expose him.

Here is a opinion piece on Yahoo news that questions the same thing:
‘Imagine that John McCain named a young running mate to campaign with him, and this national rookie suggested America had 58 states, repeatedly used the wrong names for the cities he was visiting, and honored a Memorial Day crowd by acknowledging the “fallen heroes” who were present, somehow alive and standing in the audience. How long would it take for the national media to see another Dan Quayle caricature? Let's raise the stakes!’

In Shahriblog we, we read [7] [Fa] that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can lead to Obama's downfall.

The blogger adds that Ahmadinejad continues his radical rhetoric that hurt Irans’ economic and political interests while Barack Obama has begun to edge away from his former offer to pursue talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [8] after being hammered by Republicans as being an “appeaser”. The blogger says Obama is not a saint but he is not under influence of the Israeli lobby and he does not think that everything can be solved by war.