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Go Home Will It Be Barack Hussein Obama On January 20?

THE PLANK OCTOBER 31, 2008

Will It Be Barack Hussein Obama On January 20?

BY CINQUE HENDERSON

If, as is abundantly likely, Barack wins on Nov. 4, the world will await his Inauguration Address on January 20. However, I'm not looking forward to his speech, so much as his official swearing in, which will constitute the first interesting challenge of his Presidency.

The challenge being, will Obama say, "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States."

Expect a few ears to bleed. And if they do bleed, it's partly his campaign's fault. Though Barack's opponents were up to no good invoking it, his campaign heaped enough calumny on any mention of his middle name that it only increased the anxiety around it.  It's one of the ironies of such defensiveness: banning the word Hussein, makes the word Hussein feel like it should be banned.

But proudly announcing his entire name will put the country on notice that the promise of his campaign--change, inclusion--might have real teeth. After sidelining part of his own identity from the campaign trail in a concession to middle America and a few wary Jews--shuffling out a set of Muslim women with headscarves during a campaign event, reciting the Muslim call to prayer by heart in early 2007 to The New York Times' Nicolas Kristoff but then never again--Barack owes something to that part of who he is. And it's possible that witnessing Barack pronounce his entire name, for the first time, in front of the world, can help shake it loose from the tense shade of meaning that unjustly surrounds it. That would be an act of magic.

Comparisons of Barack to great leaders are certainly premature, but Abraham Lincoln may be relevant. The historical irony of Gettysburg is that Lincoln's three minute benediction was not the main event. That honor belonged to Edward Everett, the 19th century Attic scholar, who gave a two hour peroration that saw the sun go down. No one remembers it.

The first four words of the likely 44th President's swearing in--"I, Barack Hussein Obama"--may well outstrip, for sheer bravura, any inaugural address he could possibly give.

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21 comments

(Sigh) The bigotry in this country is a disgrace.  There is no more patriotic group of Americans than our Muslim-American immigrants.

- Wandreycer1

October 31, 2008 at 6:31am

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A rose by any other name....

- moldndecay

October 31, 2008 at 6:36am

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I don't think Edward Everett's problem is that nobody remembers his speech at Gettysburg (although it's true that the speech pales in comparison to Lincoln's). It's that nobody remembers anything *else* about him.  

Everett wasn't just an obscure scholar of ancient Greek literature -- he was a congressman and senator from Massachusetts; served as the Commonwealth's governor; was an envoy to Great Britian; served as president of Harvard for three years; and was appointed Secretary of State in the Fillmore Administration after his close friend Daniel Webster died.

Everett was also an opponent of the Missouri Compromise; and was the first American to receive a PhD degree, which he did in Germany.  As governor of Massachusetts, he worked with Horace Mann to introduce the Prussian education system, which was later adopted in New York as well.

- Androscoggin

October 31, 2008 at 8:10am

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OK, I'm going away for the weekend to a mythical place called NO COMPUTERVILLE.

I make a pledge to you, and I invite my beloved TNR brethren to join me if they'd like:

I pledge to try and be funny all day on Monday, to stop leaving brevity to Mr Yard, Bone, etc.  

I can't promise I will BE funny, but I will try. No self-righteousness, no calling anyone a cancer, a pig, a sociopath, a scum (except the fat bigot frat boy from last night) on or off the boards.

Cheers to a jokey, relieved Monday - it looks like we might make it to the finish line of this godforsaken election.  

- Wandreycer1

October 31, 2008 at 8:47am

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I will probably be spending most of Monday in the fetal position, trying not to vomit and rocking back and forth.  I need to get it out of my system, since apparently I'm a local "poll captain" for the Obama campaign on Election Day.  (I don't know exactly what it means, yet, but I'm pretty sure I got the job because of my winning combination of gumption and moxie.)  True, the patients that come to see me on Monday may be a little disconcerted by my comportment, but I hope the nurses will explain the situation before they prod me into the examining rooms.

- drdannyu

October 31, 2008 at 9:33am

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If I didn't have such a rather dodgy heart (true - I have atrial fibrillation, unlike Darth Chaney, mine is always arhythmic) I would be rather tempted to re-enact Hunter Thompson's opening passages in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - might be the only way to truly deal with the weekend full of cruelty that is about to be dumped on our heads by the vicious, cannibalistic brutes who make up the McCain campaign.  

I am sure that my students won't mind.

- kgrant1054

October 31, 2008 at 9:53am

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DrDan: I thought being a "poll captain" involved wearing a snazzy uniform, along with leather boots, and carrying a riding crop - right up your alley, no? ;-)

Wandrey: Come on!  I want to see a last minute broadside on your part ... did you see the Wapo "Idiot wind" Editorial?  This is not the time to be "funny" - it is the time to be outraged and hopeful, and to channel all that energy into positive action, like "Captain" Dan (has a nice ring to it).

As for the main post, it is one of the most pointless and stupid I have ever read - matched, perhaps, only in Cinque's earlier pointless and stupid post comparing Obama and Mrs. Clinton.  Just as the Palin woman would be entirely out of her depth and out of place in an Ivy League law class on constitutional protections offered by the 8th Amendment, so Senator Obama has to adjust both his message and his presentation to the millions of Americans who, BECAUSE OF REPUBLICAN CALUMNIES over the past eight years, have come to associate any Arab-origin name with something evil. (As a non-Shi'ite from Iran, I can tell you that the name "Hussein" sends shivers up my spine because of its historical associations with Shi'ite rituals and extremism; many Iranians who are given Arabic names at birth change to Persian names when they grow up, again for historical reasons.  Stupid?  Yes, in some measure, but there you have it; we none of us are perfect.)

So yes, when your asshole of an opponent runs an "An American President Americans have been Americanly waiting for in America.  American. 9/11" ad, and when his pitbull runs around mroe or less "them thar foreigner darkie nigger Arab Mooslim person is not 'real' American, is not 'pro-America', is not the kind of 'America' that you and I are", well OF FUCKING COURSE Senator Obama has to be sensitive to the use of his middle name as a rallying cry to get the KKK and the ADL out.

Hurrumpf.  That was my rant of the day.  

- icarusr

October 31, 2008 at 9:55am

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If he wins, Obama absolutely should recite his whole name on Inauguration Day, and proudly so.  In fact, I look forward to watching that moment of history, and love the fact that the mere recitation of his middle name will cause thousands if not millions of bigots to have aneurysms.  Icing on the cake.

- myzaguirre

October 31, 2008 at 9:57am

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he should definitely say Barack HUSSEIN Obama when he's sworn in....

NO REASON why he should defer to the bigots and cater to the IRRATIONAL FEARS of the ignorants in our society..  his whole campaign, after all, is, among other things, an attempt to do away with the right-wingers' IRRATIONAL THINKING....

they don't like it.. TOUGH.... get with it, it's the 21st century...     GO OBAMA...  

- maya90

October 31, 2008 at 10:01am

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Well, thank GOD I already have the riding crop.  (Tally ho, and all that!)  I plan to spend most of Tuesday saying "You, there!" in a peremptory tone and demanding fresh coffee every 20 minutes.

- drdannyu

October 31, 2008 at 10:15am

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I'm convinced that there is a minimum number of posts per month to maintain employment at TNR.  What else could have occasioned such manufactured anxiety?  The first "challenge" of his presidency?  More interesting than his speech?  Really?

- Typical

October 31, 2008 at 10:31am

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Typical: no matter how many posts they need to produce, it does not excuse this sort of crap - are you rightly note, to suggest that whether he says his middle name is doing to be more interesting than the inaugural speech ... it's just daft.  I mean, how lost does one need to be in identity politics to come up with such doo-doo?

The "first" challenge of the Obama presidency - if it comes to pass, and I don't want to jinx it - begins on November 5, not January 20.  Obama, as a senator, will have to go to DC and start work on a stimulus package that his administration will have to implement.  And that's just for starters.  Between November 5 and January 20th, he will have to identify 3000 honest, competent individuals to replace the 3000 criminals and incompetents who now occupy politically-appointed positions in the Administration - LONG before he has to utter his name in the swearing in.  The next milestone, Mr. Henderson - need I actually give you a civics lesson - is January 3, when a new Congress is sworn in, with a Democratic majority but no coherent philosophy (a throw-back to Tip O'Neill days, without Tip's steady hand).  With Wall Street still on Xanax and a see-saw, President-Elect Obama will have to meet with Congressional leaders on the 4th to plot the legislative agenda for the inevitable "first hundred days".  That's two weeks before he has to utter his middle name in public ... enough challenges?

Jeez.

DrDan: What kind of horse do you ride?  I used to have a bay Arab-Turkoman stallion in Ye Olde Countrie.

- icarusr

October 31, 2008 at 11:05am

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As everyone knows, a "poll captain" is in charge of polling stock. That is, removing horns of cattle. I don't understand why this is being done in a city, but I just got up so maybe I missed something.

- AlanK

October 31, 2008 at 11:15am

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Actually, I heard tell he was going to change his middle name to Harpo, and that he was going to pledge eternal fidelity to Freedonia.

- blackton

October 31, 2008 at 11:26am

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maybe dr. dan will be out "polling" the electorate

- perkowitz

October 31, 2008 at 11:26am

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Incidentally, now we know how Obama has hood-winked all of us.  Over at Salon, they have an excerpt of a blog (which might well be of interest to DrDan):

"Also, Obama has apparently been using the power of hypnosis to brainwash people  into voting for him. Here's a snippet from a recent post at the blog of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a right-wing group:

Is Barack Obama a brilliant orator, captivating millions through his eloquence? Or is he deliberately using the techniques of neurolinguistic programming (NLP), a covert form of hypnosis?

Techniques of trance induction include extra slow speech, rhythm, tonalities, vagueness, visual imagery, metaphor, and raising of emotion. Hypnotists often have patients count. In a speech after the primaries closed, Obama said: “Sixteen months have passed (paused)…Thousands (pause) of miles…(pause)…Millions of voices….”

Obama actually said at one time: “a light will shine down from somewhere, it will light upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will say to yourself, ‘I have to vote for Barack.’”

You will not choose to vote for Barack: you will “have to.” It is not a logical choice, but rather one directed by a mystical (subconscious) force."

- icarusr

October 31, 2008 at 11:29am

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icarus, I don't actually own a horse.  I have the riding crop because I'm always flogging my opinions.  (HEEEEEY-O!!!)

- drdannyu

October 31, 2008 at 11:36am

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Actually, I hope Obama embraces his middle name the day after the election.

Here's what I envision: On Wednesday day, Obama goes to Salt Lake City to deliver a speech in the reddest state of the union.  He lays out the case for unity and tolerance.  He notes that while blacks and other minorities have faced discrimination, so have Mormons (as evidenced by so many Republicans reluctant to vote for Romney in the primaries).  Obama pledges that he will not be a president of just the blue states, that he cares about people in the red states, too.  He pledges to work together with Republicans, and appeals with conservatives to find common ground.  He says that America faces big challenges, and while many people may question our ability to fix them, Obama says: "Look what this country did yesterday.  We elected a black man named "Barack Hussein Obama" president.  If we can do that, we can do anything."

- Jingu

October 31, 2008 at 2:01pm

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Wait! He said his middle name was Steve! It isn't? Why isn't this a big story?!!?!?!?

- jerrystn

October 31, 2008 at 2:12pm

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Obama should say "Barack Hussein Obama," not proudly but matter-of-factly. A name is nothing to be proud of. Rather, one's actions are (sometimes) something to be proud of.

Any wingnut who has a problem with BHO's H already can quote chapter and verse and isn't going to become less of a wingnut if BHO signs in as BO; conversely, said wingnuts on such an eventuality would likely assume (a) BHO is trying to hide something, (b) they have him on the run, or (c) both.

If we want to decrease the wingnut population we need to ensure that all wingnuts get adequate, affordable health care; that they get solid education and job training, and jobs at a living wage; that they live in decent, affordable housing; that their families are safe and protected from enemies foreign and domestic; that their workplaces are safe and their chances for advancement based solely on merit; that their share of the national debt decreases; that they can look forward to a well-deserved and dignified retirement; that buying gas vs. heating oil is a choice they never have to make. Take care of these issues and you may not have eliminated all the wingnuts but you'll likely have to put the stragglers on the Endangered Species list.

Barack Hussein Obama's name means nothing, and he needs to treat it as such.

- williamyard

October 31, 2008 at 3:16pm

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"Part of who he is?"  Well, yes, such that your name may influence who you are. Senator Obama is an American man who will be sworn in as President using the traditional formulation, first, middle, last name.  If his name were "Mike Hunt" certain other people I guess would be dying of suspense waiting to hear that.  Or "Stormy Weathers Smith".  If you don't change the name you are given at birth, it's yours, and you deal with people making fun of it for being stupid, exotic, punny, or whatever.  This writer is a bit nuts when it comes to Barack Obama if I recall the other posts this past year. Maybe some people's ears will bleed but who cares about "those people" anyway?

- ericad

November 3, 2008 at 1:39pm

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