What’s in a name?


Who would’ve thought that a man named Barack Hussein Obama would be president of the United States?


Nov 5th, 2008  print print    email email   Post a comment Listen to the Article

I was having a conversation with my colleague earlier about Obama’s big win, and how wonderful it will be to have the first African-American president in power soon, and it got me thinking: the man’s name is Barack Hussein Obama and he’s going to be 44th president of the world’s most influential country.

Yes, it’s obvious. And yes, everyone is talking out, but it’s still staggering. As my colleague put it, if you list the name of previous US presidents, they sound so Anglo-Saxon. And now the US has Barack Hussein Obama. Hussein!

Maybe one day an Arab-American with a name like Mohammed Abu Shakra will be the 45th president of the United States!

Have I crossed the line? Was it the Arab bit? I’m sorry. Let’s stick to Hussein.

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