Rabbi Sol, I think you might need to start getting your information from some new sources. The ones you've got now are lying to you, and it kind of looks like they're doing it for nefarious reasons.

Obama is of Luo ancestry, and the name is from the Luo people and language, not Swahili. This is the only meaning I have been able to find so far for the name Obama...

a Luo name (male) from Western Kenya (Nyanza Provice) which may derive from "obam," which conotes "bending" or "leaning".

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080127090913AAMqwIr


I know you said you didn't mean anything by it, but I think the only reason someone would spread that kind of falsehood would be in order to smear someone. This is very sad for two reasons. The first one being that people would stoop to that kind of dirty smear against a political candidate, and the second being that people are promoting the idea that a Muslim couldn't be a good president of this country. There are many Muslims in the world who have every bit as much goodness and capability as any Jew, Christian, Hindu, or any other religion or any people of no religion.