He with us!

He With Us

In a gesture to boast that, like others, I also follow and understand the current political events happening around the world, I decided to write something about President Barak Obama! However, except for his name, I found nothing else to talk about! As your Persian teacher, please let me have this honour to translate Obama for you:
O /u/ = He
Ba = with
Ma = us (we)

So, Obama in Persian means ‘He with us’. How deeply I long to see that he is really with us! He is very attractive (as a brother, of course!!) and innocently friendly when he smiles. He is a brilliant speaker, seems to be a man of his words, and, above all, has a lovely name. Mr. Obama has been able to draw the attention of the world to himself in a positive way, which heavies the burden he is shouldering. I believe the 44th president of America has every reason and the best ever opportunity to make his name eternal both in the United States and in the outside world.
To be frank, however, I saw something during Mr. President’s inauguration, which saddened my heart. I was disappointed not because of what I saw, but because of what that observation reminded me of; it reminded me of Iran. In pain I said to myself, ‘what a long, long, long way the people of my country will have ahead of them before they can experience freedom from religious authorities while in a multicultural, democratic and free nation like America, a priest speaks before the president’.

Love and peace,
Hassan H.
Thursday, 22 January 2009