On the Sunday Times, Obama, and Middle Names

After a long day reviewing student projects, I’m itching for a lovely bit of Glenmorangie; however, considering that I have, as they say, “gone on the wagon,” I’ve settled for a some black tea and political news instead.

On Sunday, The New York Times began running a series of stories on the presidential candidates. They kicked off with a front-page story on Obama’s Senate history. The story painted Obama as an eager-to-please, but rather ineffectual, neophyte who, the story implied, had already begun eyeing a presidential campaign when he first entered the U. S. Senate. In effect, the man’s a celebrity but little else. The "empty suit" analysis (as a news story rather than as an op-ed piece) prompts me to recall that the Times endorsed Rodham Clinton some time ago.

Ah, “Rodham Clinton” reminds me of something that's been grating for a while ( bear with me here): on Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name: deal with it. It is the man’s name, and it’s not something for him to hide. What is arguable--risible--is the context and tone in which his name is used--as when certain blowhards from the left or the right refer to “Hussein” as some juvenile shorthand for “closet terrorist.” The whining defense of such inflections tend to fall along the lines of “So? If he's ashamed of his name, why didn’t Obama change it? I didn't name him 'Barack Hussein Obama.'")” Aside: I can nearly hear Uriah Heep simper these lines while wringing his hands, eyes downcast. That’s my bias speaking there. The other defense is “Well, Hillary Rodham Clinton--she uses her middle name.” Well, no. She doesn’t. Clinton’s middle name is “Diane.” “Rodham” is her maiden name; “Rodham Clinton” is her surname.

Rather than drawing awareness to possible hidden allegiances, attention to such trivialities as a person’s name points only to the increasingly petty, childish tenor of American politics. And yes, I'm playing along by blogging about it.

I'd like to note that the Times also ran a sympathetic story on John McCain's cancer history. I didn’t know this, but the puffiness of his left cheek is due to surgery that removed a lesion and lymph nodes in his neck when he’d been diagnosed with melanoma. Crikey. McCain’s a seven year cancer survivor, and he’s going strong (bless 'im), so there's some positive news to share.