Barack Hussein Obama: There, I Used His Middle Name & So What???

Posted on February 28, 2008
Filed Under Journalism, commentary |

Ever wonder why so many famous actors through the years who happened to be Jewish ended up with very non-Jewish sounding names?

barackhussein.gifBasically, the Hollywood studios worried that Jewish names would hurt box office and pressure was applied on young actors to come up with names that hid any trace of their ethnic background. Think Kirk Douglas or his son, Michael, for example.

This comes up because it seems as if something similiar is now happening with Barack Obama whose middle name happens to be Hussein, a Muslim name–even though Obama is apparently a Christian.

Today, the Republican National Committee denounced the use of Obama’s middle name by the Tennessee Republican party which used it in a series of press releases.

Just the other day, John McCain denounced a Chicago radio host who helped introduce him at a rally because he,too, used Obama’s middle name.

Are some people trying to use Obama’s middle name to raise suspicions about his religious beliefs or to try and tie him to radical Islamic fundamentalism? Sure. It’s politics and politics is a dirty game.

But, this begs the larger question: Why is Obama’s middle name such a big deal in the first place?

If I were Muslim, I would be totally pissed about this uproar–the suggestion that the name “Hussein” should be kept deep inside some closet.

If Obama is so ashamed of his middle name–and he should NOT be–then he should change his name. Michael Douglas is already taken, but he could change his name to something similiar I suppose.

This whole controversy over Obama’s middle name is nothing more than a repeat of earlier concerns some had about the use of Jewish names.

In both cases…it is a sad commentary.

Comments

4 Responses to “Barack Hussein Obama: There, I Used His Middle Name & So What???”

  1. Paul B. on February 28th, 2008 5:30 pm

    You clearly are not too bright. Think of the average American. You probably are not thinking of a newspaper reading, intellectual. The average American does not follow the daily news, sans Lindsey Lohan’s latest drug bust. The average American knows a few things though, we are in a was with Iraq and the reason we went there is because of Saddam HUSSEIN. So when the name HUSSEIN is spoken repeatedly certain thoughts come to mind.

    Now about changing the name. Do you honestly think in a presidential election, that some sort of journalist is not going to dig up info about the name change. This would bring up an uproar.

    You sir, are not too bright.

  2. Obama is a Joke on February 28th, 2008 6:01 pm

    Paul - If someone’s name is so toxic, then they should change it. If they fail to do so, then what is wrong with using it? If Obama thought his name presented a problem, then he would have done so.

    If it causes fear in your heart, then you are not too bright. There are thousands and thousands of people in this country with the name Hussein.

    Seems like a double standard, no? We can call Hillary by HRC or Hillary Rodham Clinton, but we cannot call Barack Obama by Barack Hussein Obama?

  3. charles on February 28th, 2008 8:39 pm

    Paul..too bad you seem to have such a low opinion of the average American’s knowledge of the world.
    You MUST be a teacher!

  4. charles on February 28th, 2008 8:42 pm

    Paul, too bad you have such a low opinion of the average American’s knowledge of the world.
    You MUST be a public school teacher!

Leave a Reply




Recent Comments