Political Bandstand

Who is saying there’s something wrong with Barack’s name?  Quite a few people apparently.  Numerous instances are cited in the a December 20, 2006 Media Matters for America article, Schlussel: Should Barack Hussein Obama be president “when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam”?

• During MSNBC’s special election coverage on November 7, co-anchor Chris Matthews remarked that Obama’s “middle name is Hussein” and suggested that it would “be interesting down the road.”

• On November 27, MSNBC host Tucker Carlson referred to radio host Bill Press as “a true member of the Barack Hussein Obama fan club.”

• During the November 28 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball, Republican strategist Ed Rogers referred to “Barack Hussein Obama.”

• On the December 5 edition of Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume, senior political correspondent Carl Cameron told viewers: “Though he’s written two books about himself already, most people know very little about Barack Hussein Obama Junior’s uncommonly privileged life.”

• On the December 11 edition of CNN’s Situation Room, correspondent Jeanne Moos noted that “[o]nly one little consonant differentiates” Obama and Osama. She then added, “[A]s if that similarity weren’t enough. How about sharing the name of a former dictator? You know his middle name, Hussein.”

• On the December 11 edition of The Situation Room, CNN senior political analyst Jeff Greenfield compared the similarity of Obama’s “business casual” clothing to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “jacket-and-no-tie look.” Greenfield concluded the segment by saying: “Now, it is one thing to have a last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the axis of evil, why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread.” He later explained on the CNN website that he was making “a joke.”

• On December 13, Matthews teased another interview with Rogers by describing the strategist as “the one who just loves Barack Obama’s middle name Hussein.”

• On the December 14 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh gave Obama a “nickname” — “Barack Hussein Odumbo” (in reference to Obama’s “big ears”).

• On the December 14 edition of Hardball, NBC’s Mike Viqueira announced “a man named Barack Obama, whose middle name, incidentally, is Hussein, running for president.”

These purveyor of defame owe the American people an explanation of what a persons name has to do with an individuals commitement to his/her country?    Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. changed his name to Muhammad Ali and announced in 1964 his faith in Islam.  He’s now a member of the Sufi Islam group, but is undeniably respected by sports fans and blue collar workers, types who often pride themselves for their pro-Americanism.  Moreover, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush on November 9, 2005 and has been called an American hero by some.  The implication here is that high profile citizens are great Americans and model citizens only when it’s convenient or beneficial to the cause of a preferred political faction, whichever one is in fashion at that time. 

There is also Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,  standing at 7′2″, weighing in at 225 pounds.  Although Abdul-Jabbar has a name that is distinctly of Arab descent, I think you would find it hard to find many who would stand in his face and accuse him of lacking in Americanism.   Boasting 38,387 points and 17,440 rebounds he’s in the history books as one of the most respectable players in professional basketball.  The fact that he has an Arab last name has not affected his ability to do his job in an American basketball league.

The point is, no one ever questioned the abilities of these sports players to do their jobs based on their names.  Why would we do so for politicians?  Barack Obama hasn’t shown any propensity to support anti-American causes during his political career so far and his consistency has been commendable, so there is no cause for claiming he has the potential jeopardize national welfare. 

Besides, name calling, making fun of a person’s name, likening a person’s name to another’s name for the sake of associating them with someone unlikeable or unpatriotic.  Those are tactics I recall used by children on the playground in gradeschool.  Are these people proposing American adults are no more civilized, no more discerning, no more capable of telling the difference between right and wrong than a group of third graders engaging in a dispute over a game of hopscotch gone wrong?  They’re certainly implying that.  Then how can we accept their evaluations as opinions, much less, as facts.  How can we trust their assessments of a political candidate?  If we can’t trust them about that, what can we trust them about?  Can we put the fate of this country in the hands of a bunch of overgrown third graders?  I’ll leave it at that.