I must admit that I was ignorant of the fact that Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein. It almost seems as though this was some sort of guarded secret withheld from the general public. In many instances we hear the middle names of many of the candidates, such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, William Jefferson Clinton, and Richard Millhouse Nixon.
The fact that I can name these off of the top of my head, and that there are many more that I can name speaks to the frequency that they used. Normally a name would not likely have much weight to it in an election, but considering our current war on terrorism it is unfortunate for any candidates to have Muslim, or even Middle Eastern names. There is no telling whether the Hussein moniker will have a negative effect with the voters, but somebody thinks so.
It all started when radio talk show host Bill Cunningham was speaking at a campaign rally for John McCain, was adamant in continuously using the Illinois Senator’s middle name. In Conservative circles this is meant to be a secret code that gives the impression that if you vote for Barack Obama, then you are voting for a terrorist, or at least a terrorist sympathizer.
The individuals behind the remarks can deny this until the Kingdom comes but it is clear the speaker knew what he was doing and it was meant to incite fear and to mobilize the Republican Party. This coincides with a photo being leaked to the Drudge Report depicting Barack Obama in traditional Somali dress. The photo is said to have been leaked allegedly by Clinton campaign workers.
It is a ridiculous attempt to make it appear, even subliminally, that Barack Obama is not an American and that he will not work in the best interest of this country. I must say that if I went to my ancestral country of Scotland I would wear a Kilt and nothing would be said about that. So who cares if Obama donned some traditional dress from his ancestral heritage?
Nevertheless, If you put these two events together you have a concerted effort by the McCain and Clinton campaigns to knock Obama out of the Primaries. Polls show that McCain would lose to Obama in the general elections, but the same polls give him a slight edge over Clinton. In regards to Clinton and McCain it is obvious that they both stand to gain if Barack is not longer in the race. I believe that it is very suspiciously coincidental that these two things happened at the same time.
John McCain was very quick in disavowing and distancing himself from Bill Cunningham’s use of Barack Obama’s middle name and apologized vehemently. Although, in my mind at least, I find it a bit funny that there was such an issue made of Obama’s middle name. If it were me I would have simply said, “Okay, my middle name is Hussein, now what?”