“. . . by any other name” [II.ii.1-2]

On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. will be inaugurated.  That’s Hussein.  Tune in to any number of news channels and watch the pundits argue over the public use of his middle name.  Somehow—despite its being tradition for the full name to be used—it has become a minor scandal.

I’m curious, though, about why.  Is the obvious coincidence of names between our Hawaiian-born Christian and an executed Muslim dictator too much for Americans to handle?  Does it play upon our irrational fears as conservative Bill Cunningham depended on when he repeated the name over and over at a Cincinnati rally for McCain?  Is it not Saddam that lives as a ghost in our President-elect but the fear of Islam in general?  Or is it the linguistic nexus between Obama and Osama?

To be sure, there are emotional connections to names and words which defy rational thinking.  Even Slate.com suggests that the name “Hussein” ranks among the worst of middle names.  So by this thinking, let us be grateful for the great US political leaders who do not carry any names which might offend our prejudiced sensibilities:

• Let us be thankful that none of our leaders share the names of infamous serial killers like Harold Shipman or Randy Steven Kraft, of Gary Leon Ridgway or Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy. Hopefully none will ever remind us of the killer nurse Charles Cullen, of David Berkowitz or Jeffrey Dahmer, of Richard Ramirez or Robert Lee Yates.  None will ever be linked to Pedro Lopez (who may have killed as many as 300 in Colombia), Peter Sutcliffe, Joseph Paul Franklin, Herbert Mullin, or Henry Lee Lucas, Christopher Wilder or Michael Bruce Ross, Peter Manuel or Derrick Todd Lee.   Yes, a US President with one of those names would surely stir our moral sensibilities.

 

• Let’s be grateful that our President is not near the nuclear button if he shares a name with Charles Whitman (who shot dozens at the University of Texas) or Jeff Weise (who did the same at Red Lake High School).  And let’s keep our leader clear of names like Eric and Dylan of Columbine.

 

• The US President should have the moral guidance which earns the respect of our citizens, so let’s be careful that he is neither a Jim nor a Jones, a Charles or a Manson, a David Koresh of Waco or Jeff Lundgren of Ohio.

 

• To sustain our democracy, be certain that he carries no names like Manuel (Noriega of Panama), Francisco (Franco of Spain) or Simon (Bolivar of Peru).

 

• And it goes without saying that he should not share a name with a US terrorist, let alone a foreign one.  Therefore, let us Constitutionally amend the Presidential requirements to ban candidates with names like Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Theodore Kaczynski, or Eric Robert Rudolph.

 

• Sure, the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list includes other Arab names, like Adam Yahihe Gadahn and Mohammed Ali Hamadei.  Until they are caught and justice is served, let no President have such frightening names as, um, Mohammed and, er, Adam.

 

• Fortunately, readers of this blog are unlikely to be named John Thomas, whose name now appears on the Master Terrorist List.  If our President were so named, he would be unable to travel by air, just like 70-year-old African American woman Johnnie Thomas (and every other variation of the name).  By the way, that list now contains over one million names.

 

Republicans have been praised for rightfully denouncing the use of Obama’s name by Cunningham and by the Tennessee Republican Party.  The use of the name, they said, was “disrespectful” and “distracting.”  To me, however, that argument also suggests that Obama’s shameful name should be buried, omitted.

Fortunately for our future President, his own name strikes no such fear in his own heart.  Blatantly flaunting the name of his Kenyan grandfather, he has decided to use his full name at the inauguration, a name Semitic in its origins, just like General Omar Bradley, Cabinet secretary Donna Shalala, and—um—

Benjamin (Ben Yamin) Franklin.  The nerve.

No, Obama has decided to allow his name to remind us that we are a 21^st century America of mixed heritages, and our Muslim traditions are at least as vital to our values as they have been to the world’s. Perhaps one day we will not wince at the names of Islam:

• Maybe we will learn about Zakir Naik, the religious scholar from India; or Aminah Assilmi, who converted from Southern Baptist to Islam and is now President of the International Union of Muslim Women. Perhaps we will admire a Benazir Bhutto for being the first female Muslim head of state in Pakistan and we will study the chemistry of Jabir Ibn Haiyan as we do the physics of Newton. Will philosopher Abu’l Waleed Muhammad Ibn Rushd ever appear in our textbooks?

 

• Oddly, we have less trouble admiring the Muslim athlete. Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabbar are long favorites, as are Imran Khan of the cricket world and Nigerian NBA star Hakeem Olajuwan.

 

• And we are okay with celebrity Muslims, so long as don’t think about them too much.  We love the jazz of John Coltrane, the ballad rock of Cat Stevens, and even the pop nonsense of Michael and Jermaine Jackson.  We laugh through multiple seasons of Dave Chappelle. And we are willing to allow political writer Fareed Zakaria a place on CNN.

 

• But be careful. Muslims have been sneaking into our politics long before Obama.  In fact, the radical Republicans of California ranEric Carlson, a blind Muslim Native American, for US Representative. (Fortunately, we would never allow a President to be named Eric or Carlson.)

Names conjure subjective power, and we must ourselves decide if an incarnation of a name will cause us fear or inspiration. Every Jesus is not a Jesus.  Every Muhammad is not the Muhammad.  And a new Hussein will lead the most powerful democracy in the world.