Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on January 20th. Yes, Barack Hussein Obama. He plans to be sworn in using all three of his names. Some Americans are freaking out about that. Not because he intends to be sworn in using all three, but that one of them has, what they believe to be, weird overtones.

It is both hilarious and ridiculous that anybody needs to make this announcement an issue. William Jefferson Clinton, George Herbert Walker Bush and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as many others, uttered their three names during their inaugurations and not a peep was heard. It’s just a swearing in, simple as that. But here are some of the weird and wonderful assumptions that I have come across as this mundane piece of protocol is being debated.

Some believe that because his middle name is Hussein, he is Islamic, or an Islamic sympathiser. What comes with that thinking is that all Islamic people are…terrorists! Islamic sympathiser equals sympathising with terrorists. Well, I have friends who are Islamic, some of my favourite students over the years have been Islamic, and some of the loveliest people I have encountered have been Islamic. I will proudly tell you here and now that I therefore am an Islamic sympathiser. Am I a terrorist sympathiser? Of course not. However, I am also a Buddhist sympathiser, a Hindu sympathiser, a Jewish sympathiser and a Christian sympathiser. Does that make it clearer?

To say that Barack Obama has some connection to radical fundamentalist Islam and secretly plans to destroy the world, is insanity of the highest order. Anne Coulter, the right wing wack job from the United States, stated just the other week:

“…he (Obama) is not a Muslim…he’s an atheist.”

That deliberate ‘throw away’ line of Coulter’s had more richness in its venom than a whole hour of right wing nonsense. What is she really saying? She’s saying that being an athesit, Obama has no belief in God, therefore he is ‘godless.’ Atheist and author Christopher Hitchens would be saying, “about time.” To say that the leader of the United States is godless implies that America is heading down a godless path, a fate far worse than if he was a Muslim. To right wing Christian America, at least Muslims believe in a God, have faith, and pray. Atheists don’t do any of that. Oh my God! This is worse than we all thought! Clever Ms. Coulter knew exactly what grenade to throw into the room before she casually walked away.

There has also been talk that he shyed away from his name during the election campaign, and now he decides to embrace it. He chose not to make an issue of it, as the Republican party were using it as a slur. In an election campaign, you give your enemies nothing. Now that he has won the election, he is free to proudly state his name in full.

But this is far more sinister than that. The United States has an educated, intelligent, strong capable black President and a clear thinking, logical, intelligent well respected Vice-President in Joe Biden. The right wing have lost significant power out of all this. Think about it. With dumb George sitting in the front seat while Cheney tinkers with the mechanics under the hood, the right wing developed more power than they had ever dreamed of. They were hoping to at least get their girl Palin into the White House, as a foot somehow wedged in the door. But now, there is no chance of that. Obama is more dangerous to them than Bill Clinton ever was. He is more dangerous than Hillary would have been. He has zero connections to the past and is a new face on the political scene. He has been the ‘teflon Don’ during the campaign with no mud sticking to him at all. He is too clean, too honest, too untarnished. For God’s sake, he is too damn perfect! At ever turn, the right wing will try something. And if it means making a mountain out of a molehill about his middle name, then let’s go for it!

The lastest scandal involving the Illinois Governor, Rod Blagoyevich, has failed to produce any evidence of corrupt involvement of either Obama or his transition team. The name issue will die a very quick death, and doubts about his religious leanings will also die a death. He has already chosen the very right wing preacher, Rick Warren, to pray at the inauguration, which has confused the hell out of the right wing, and angered the left wing, especially the Gay and Lesbian community. But this is how Obama will do things. He will do the job the way he believes it should be done, and not how others think it should be done.

That includes being sworn in as Barack Hussein Obama.

Enjoy your day