That Obama is related to the Odinga family has been bandied about from many sources for the last two years. You are right again, I did not check this to find out if it were true because this claim is ubiquitous. Your point is taken. Obama likely would have given little or no import to the name "Odinga" in 1981, But he was politically and geographically located at ground zero for this exact group of misfits making up the remnants of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army. The theory that he could have hardly failed to seek out the man with the same name as his supposed "relative" is now debunked on the basis of that name, but not on the basis of Obama's and the Group's shared politics. There is still the possibility that someone enthralled with their own "Kenyaness" might have recognized the name as a Kenyan name, but that is not a foregone conclusion.
In any case, thanks once again for setting me straight on a point of fact.