"I got my name Barack from my father. It's actually Swahali for 'That one.' I got my middle name obviously from someone who didn't think I'd run for president."
--Barack Obama, joking at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner, October 16, 2008
My Middle Name is Hussein
The name Barack Hussein Obama is as American as any name. Unless you are Native American, then you or your ancestors came to this continent from another one. Since Obama announced his candidacy for President, many people have said that he must be a terrorist because his middle name is Hussein.
Those who make or believe statements like that are also making the uninformed, unreasonable and truly un-American assumption that (1) if someone’s name is Hussein, he must be Muslim, and (2) if someone is Muslin, they must be a terrorist. Most of us understand that neither of those is true.
But in response to the people who are saying these things, and to those who have heard them and believe them, we have decided to change our middle names to Hussein until November 5, 2008, as a way of saying that all Americans are American – if we believe in and uphold the Constitution – regardless of our names.
You are welcome to join us. Just enter your first and last name in the box above. And please invite your friends to do so as well.
Thank you.
David Hussein Budin
Noah Hussein Budin