Thread: Hi, I'm John McCain, & I'm voting for Barack Obama

BY JAMES QUEALLY AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Sunday, September 7th 2008, 12:21 AM





Gill for News
Yes, his name is John McCain and you can see why this Brooklyn Democrat has everyone confused.
John McCain is voting for Barack Obama - and he looks like him, too.
Only this McCain is Johnathan B. McCain, a Brooklyn-based musician, not the Republican presidential candidate.
"I travel to Europe a lot, and a few people have said I look like Obama," said McCain, 40. "When people ask me my name, I always say John McCain, like the senator."
McCain said he's never used his famous name - or his striking resemblance to the Democratic presidential candidate - to get a good table in a crowded restaurant or get out of a parking ticket.
The combination has gotten him on talk radio shows around the city, though.
"Once I mention that I'm interracial and my name is John McCain, they put me right through," he said.
McCain said he's toyed with the idea of turning the tables on gullible Republicans by holding a fund-raising dinner under the name "John McCain."
Then, when everyone is seated, McCain said, he would step out onstage with a wide smile on his face and declare, "Barack Obama thanks you for your contribution."
McCain said he first became aware of the Arizona senator when he voted against making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday.
"I was appalled that someone who shares my name would do something like that," he said. "He's not doing what I would do with the name."
Now McCain is squarely in Obama's corner.
"These are critical times, maybe the most important election in U.S. history," he said. "We have to restore the American dream for the common man."
Until now, McCain's main claim to fame was as the longtime drummer for the influential ska band The Toasters. These days, he pounds the skins for a two-man indie-pop outfit called Ghost Front, which recently played a gig at The Knitting Factory.
His mom, Shirley McCain, said she never thought her son looked like Obama until a few weeks ago, when a relative pointed out the resemblance.
"You know, I look at my son like most mothers do - he looks like his dad," she said. "My handsome son. The women love him."
As for her son being a John McCain, the proud Manhattan mom said, "I call him Johnathan, since I named him Johnathan."
csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

suprise, suprise, a black man voting for obama.