About Us

I’m David Budin.  I’m a musician and writer in Cleveland, Ohio. My brother Noah Budin is also a musician from Cleveland – a folk-pop singer-songwriter who travels all around the country.

As you know, there are many myths surrounding Barack Obama’s name – especially his middle name, Hussein.  People think that because he has the middle name Hussein, he is a Muslim, a terrorist … all kinds of things that make no sense.

Of course, Sarah Palin has added mightily to the frenzy, using expressions in her recent speeches about Obama that say, “he’s not like you and me,” he’s not one of us” and “he and his ilk want to destroy our country” – whipping her audiences into near-violent mobs with slurs that shockingly and heartbreakingly echo the scare tactics used by the leaders of Germany between 1933 and 1945, whether she knows that or not.

And since she started these kinds of attacks, videos have popped up – as the expression goes “all over the Internet” – showing people at McCain/Palin rallies shouting, at the mention of Obama’s name, “He’s a traitor,” and “Kill him” and “Off with his head,” and more along those lines.  And people outside their rallies have been filmed saying things like, “Obama’s a one-man terror cell,” and as if to prove it, “His middle name is Hussein.”

What’s your name? French?  Spanish?  Italian?  Russian?  Swedish?  Inuit? Does that mean you’re a terrorist?  Does mean you’re anything bad?  Well, you may be, but certainly not because of whatever name you were given at birth.

Before America hated Saddam Hussein, America loved King Hussein of Jordan.  He was one of America’s strongest friends and allies in the Middle East.  If Sadam hadn’t come along, maybe we’d love Barack Obama’s middle name.

McCain is an Irish name.  So can we assume that he’s a member of Irish Republican Army?  They’re terrorists, you know.  And his first name is John.  In German that’s Johan.  Could he be a Nazi?  Is he hiding something?  Should we investigate this further?  No. John McCain is not an IRA member or a Nazi.  Barack Obama is not a Muslim or a terrorist.  (And, again, even if he were a Muslim, that shouldn’t matter. This country was founded by people who left their homeland seeking religious freedom, and the USA is home to every religion.)

So after watching a few of those videos, and, I guess, one too many of them, Noah and I decided that we were going to change our middle names to Hussein, at least until the election.  We’re inviting you to do that, too.  The idea is that we’re all Americans, and unless we’re Native American, we all came from somewhere else, or, at least, our ancestors did, one or two or more generations ago.  Barack Hussein Obama is as American as John Sidney McCain – and you and me.

If you’d like to “change” your middle name to Hussein until November 4, just sign your name on the home page.

Thanks.

David Hussein Budin

Noah Hussein Budin