Posted by
Brent Tuominen on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 6:53:04 PM
What's in a name? Would not a rose by any other name smell as sweet? In most cases, I would consider such a question rhetorical. You can call me Brent, you can call me Mr. Tuominen, you can even call me Mr. T. (although those that know me realize how innapropriate that is, when compared to that other Mr. T.), in my youth, I was even called Tuomi. No matter how you refer to me, I am still the same person, and there really isn't too much of a difference. I smell as foul (or as sweet) no matter how you refer to me.
There are times, however, when a name is more than just a name. One such instance is evidenced in a recent column by Ann Coulter. Don't get me wrong. I like Ann Coulter. She can be both witty and insightful. But while reading a recent column, I noticed that she continually referred to Senator Barak Obama as B. Hussein Obama. Since then, I have gone back and read several columns, and, more times than not, she refers to him in the same way. Although referring to him in this way makes him any different than he is, (just as calling me Mr. T. in no way makes me more of a black man sporting a mohawk), I think that the intent on emphasizing his middle name, a name he doesn't commonly use, is offensive.
To refer to Barak Obama by his middle name, Hussein, is to emphasize the fact that his father - his absentee father - was Islamic. It is an effort to play to the emotion, to paint Sen. Obama with the same brush - to get people to question his trustworthiness, his patriotism. When you get right down to it, it isn't but a step removed from the viral email that has circulated which claims that the junior Senator from Illinois is himself a Moslim. John McCain recently condemned an ad by the North Carolina Republican Party which questioned the judgement of two gubernatorial candidates who had endorsed Barak Obama, and used his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright as evidence. It would seem to me that the Rev. Wright is much more fair game, even by association, than appealing to base emotions as Ann Coulter continues to do by repeatedly emphasizing Barak Obama's Arab middle name. Ms. Coulter should be ashamed of herself.