I have listened now for about a month the "uproar" over Barack Obama's middle name. While we know there are racist tendencies concerning his African American heritage, that pales in comparison to the overt racism that the right wing is trying to smear Obama with by constantly discussing his middle name.
This is an easy smear campaign for the right wing. They can say, "Look, why can't I just say his middle name, I am not saying anything "bad" about it". In fact that is what the Nazi (Sean Hannity)and the nut (John Gibson) are doing on radio and T.V. Of course, they know by doing that they are stirring up the racist fears in much of their overtly racist audience.
They could easily report something like, "Yes, his middle name is Hussein but there are no ties to a Muslim religion in his name as Obama is a devout Christian. In fact, his middle name is a little like "John" in the rest of the world and is very similar to the fact that one of our all time greatest generals ever, General Omar Bradley, also had a name of Middle Eastern descent. But, we would never accuse Omar Bradley of being an early Muslim radical supporter so making that connection to Obama because his middle name is "Hussein" would be equally inaccurate, wrong, and racist." But, no, they do not do that. That is real reporting you will never see on the Fox Idiot Network .
They continue to use the word knowing they are leading their audience into a thought that is wrong. The Nazi even has segments called, "Is it wrong to talk about his middle name". Let's create a story where there is none. He is feeding his racist audience's fears and he knows it. He is a racist himself.
For the more educated and reasonable, there is Juan Cole who writes a great article about this and talks about other great Americans who have had Muslim/Middle Eastern names. He discusses the origin of Omar in Omar Bradley, discusses Abizaid as in General Abizaid, and points out that McCain's adopted daughter is from Bangladesh where Hussein is a very common name.
But, the strategy of the Republicans since the year 2000 has been very clear, concise and straightforward. It is all about taking advantage of the American populace and keeping them very scared. The very smart people, they just keep rich through big tax breaks and idiotic policies which have, for example, someone making $100M per year paying the same Social Security tax as someone who makes $100K per year. "Keep the bad people rich and the good people scared" is the mantra of the Bush administration through Karl Rove.
You would have thought that given what happened to McCain in South Carolina in the 2000 election he would have never done this to anyone else. Rather than learn what not to do, apparently the Republican machine has taught McCain what works. And, what works, is apparently all McCain and the Republican machine care about.
American is certainly in it's "Dark Ages" right now and I am not sure what, if anything, will get it out beyond electing Barack Obama.
We have a chance America.. .let's not blow it. Donate to Barack Obamaand Make a Change... do not allow more of the same politics!!
Note: I freely admit I am a Barack Obama supporter. You can read my Obama Blog here.