"Good old American names"

Bob Herbert's latest op-ed is a touching and upsetting reminder that the war in Iraq has cost the lives of many Americans. Regardless of where you stand on the war, or whether you agree with Herbert's conclusion--that the war was a devastating mistake, and that the deaths are in vain--it is important to be reminded, well, what war is. What I don't fully understand about Herbert's op-ed, though, is why he begins it as he does:

"It was Vietnam all over again - the heartbreaking head shots captioned with good old American names: Jose Casanova, Donald J. Cline Jr., Sheldon R. Hawk Eagle, Alyssa R. Peterson."

At later points in the article he provides two more lists of names: "Joshua T. Byers, Matthew G. Milczark, Harvey E. Parkerson 3rd, Ivory L. Phipps" and "Elia P. Fontecchio, Raheen Tyson Heighter, Sharon T. Swartworth, Ruben Valdez Jr."

What, dare I ask, are "good old American names"? Since Americans come from all over, is diversity what's American? Or is a name like Peterson or Phipps especially American? I understand why "Eagle" suggests good old America, but I'm not really sure what Herbert is getting at with this comment. Is the point that the Americans who end up going to war tend to be poorer and thus come from "good old America"? Would names like Muffy Potter Aston (the socialite), Paul Wolfowitz, or Margaret Cho also count as good, old, and American? I'm going with yes--it seems that Herbert is aware of what he's doing when he calls "Milczark," "Fontecchio," and "Valdez" "good old American names." He knows that such a phrase evokes generically WASPy names, and intentionally puts names that don't specifically make one think of America before us, to remind us of something unique about the country that these soldiers were fighting for.

I have long been bothered by the phrase "all-American" when used to describe a person's looks. If all that "all-American" implied was that a person was a mix of various ethnicities, then I suppose it would be a reasonable thing to call someone. But that's not what the phrase means. It means naturally blond, or at least white. I'm sure that Herbert is using his version of all-American to get at something different, and frankly I hope his redefinition catches on.