My spam filter has now been set to automatically bin anything that contains the string "Barack Hussein Obama". Thanks for your kind interest, etc. etc.
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Okay, but what about Biraq Hussein Osama? Can we use that smear?
Inquiring minds and all ...
Barack Obama
AKA Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
Born: 4-Aug-1961
Birthplace: Honolulu, HI [1]
Gender: Male
Religion: Protestant [2]
Race or Ethnicity: Multiracial
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Politician
Party Affiliation: Democratic
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: US Senator from Illinois
Barack Obama is a multiracial American politician, though he bristles at that label. He served as Democratic state senator in Illinois, and then as US Senator from that state. Only two other blacks have served in the US Senate since Reconstruction. His father was an economics student from Nairobi, his mother a white American anthropology student when they married. They divorced when Obama was young, and his father returned to Kenya. Obama was raised by his mother until about age 10, when his maternal grandmother in Honolulu took him in. He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American to edit Harvard Law Review. Obama practiced civil-rights law, representing victims of housing and employment discrimination and working on voting-rights legislation. He worked as a community organizer in a slummish Chicago neighborhood. He has spoken against NAFTA and racial profiling, and for universal health care.
His campaign for Senate received an enormous boost when his opponent, Republican Jack Ryan, withdrew amid embarrassing allegations in his divorce from Star Trek actress Jeri Ryan, that during their marriage he had tried to lure her to attend sex clubs in France. Obama received another boost when he was invited to address the 2004 Democratic Party convention in prime time on CSPAN.
In his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama admits using marijuana and cocaine as a teenager.
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[1] Kapiolani Medical Center.
[2] Member of the United Church of Christ since the 1980s. Obama's father, while born into a Muslim family, had become atheist by the time he met Obama's mother, the secular Ann Dunham. Despite propaganda being distributed to the contrary, Barack Obama, the Senator, was never a practicing Muslim, and never attended extremist or Wahabbist madrassas.
Father: Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (economist, b. 1936 Kenya, d. 1982)
Mother: Stanley Ann Dunham (b. 29-Nov-1942, d. 7-Nov-1995)
Father: Lolo Soetoro (stepfather, d. 1987)
Sister: Maya Soetoro-Ng (half-sister, history teacher, b. 1971)
Wife: Michelle Obama (m. 1992, two daughters)
Daughter: Malia Ann Obama (b. 1999)
Daughter: Natasha Obama (b. 2001)
High School: Punahou School, Honolulu, HI (1979)
University: Occidental College
University: Columbia University (1983)
Law School: Harvard Law School (1991)
US Senator, Illinois (2005-)
Illinois State Senate 13th (1997-2004)
Sidley Austin summer associate
Baskin-Robbins teen years
Harvard Law Review President
Grammy 2006 for Dreams From My Father (spoken word)
Secret Service Codename Renegade
Dubya Nickname Rock, 'Bama
Kenyan Ancestry Paternal
Risk Factors: Marijuana, Cocaine, Smoking
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Tanner on Tanner (5-Oct-2004) Himself
Official Website:
http://obama.senate.gov/
Author of books:
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995, memoir)
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006, nonfiction)
It's his real name
So what? It isn't the name he uses when describing himself.
This is sort of the reverse of the conservatives who refused to recognize Muhammed Ali's name change and continued to call him "Cassius Clay". It is a sign of disrespect, and, indeed, is intended as one.
Plus, in this instance, it is an obvious attempt to spread the false insinuation that he is a Muslim and that this is a reason to vote against him.
This is similar to the Webb/Allen senate campaign where Allen opponents kept using "George Felix Allen" in a lame effort to remind the voters of Virginia that Allen had a Jewish grandfather.
"This is similar to the Webb/Allen senate campaign where Allen opponents kept using "George Felix Allen" in a lame effort to remind the voters of Virginia that Allen had a Jewish grandfather.
Posted by Steven | January 9, 2008 10:18 PM"
It wasn't so much that is showed he was Jewish. I don't think anyone thinks of "Felix" as a Jewish name. I mostly associate it with the cartoon cat. In fact, Allen's mother supposedly hid from Allen the fact that he was part Jewish for years. It showed more how he wasn't such a good ol' boy like he pretended and more of a child of privilege.
It wasn't so much that is showed he was Jewish. I don't think anyone thinks of "Felix" as a Jewish name. I mostly associate it with the cartoon cat. In fact, Allen's mother supposedly hid from Allen the fact that he was part Jewish for years. It showed more how he wasn't such a good ol' boy like he pretended and more of a child of privilege.
Nonetheless, it was a sign of childish disrespect, which is reason enough not to do it. It kind of reminds me of the right-wingers who refuse to use the word "gay" or always put the words "gay marriage" in "scare quotes", because they are open about not wanting to admit that gays and lesbians are entitled to equal respect and dignity. That sort of crap doesn't belong in politics.
Now, calling him George "Macaca" Allen, I think is quite justified.
"I don't think anyone thinks of 'Felix' as a Jewish name."
You don't, but some people do.
"Plus, in this instance, it is an obvious attempt to spread the false insinuation that he is a Muslim and that this is a reason to vote against him."
But he is a Muslim by Islam's own definition.