Monica Crowley Is An Easily Excitable Woman! (About Politics – You Have A Dirty Mind)!!

How is it I always end up listening to Monica Crowley on the weekends?  Aren’t the weekends supposed to be fun?  Why do I torture myself?

For you, America.  Someone has to point out the problems with the baloney she spews.

This past Friday night, I was coming home to start my weekend when I got Ms. Crowley on the radio.  She was, in her usual breathless style, going on about Barack Obama.  The topic was his name change.

According to Ms. Crowley, at some point in his younger years, Barack Obama went from going by the name Barry Obama to his actual birth name of Barack Obama.  She also felt it very important to drop in his given middle name, which is the unfortunately timed Hussein according to Ms. Crowley.

Crowley’s point was that when people change their names from say Cassius Clay to a Muslim name like Muhammad Ali that they are signaling their Muslim beliefs.  She then listed numerous examples of people doing just that from Malcolm X to Mike Tyson.

 She might have mentioned Tim Conway as well or I could be making that up for a cheap joke… (FULL DISCLOSURE – the Tim Conway reference is in fact a cheap joke for those of you without a sense of humor)

Are you in a lather yet thinking that we’re about to elect a radical Muslim as President?  Well, settle down Sally and Steve, or whoever you are!

Here’s the point Crowley missed.  Barack Obama was always Barack Obama.  It’s his given name.  It’s not Barack who changed, it’s society.

Think about it. Barack is in his forties.  When he was growing up, it was all about the melting pot in America.  Geraldo Rivera was Jerry Rivers.  Everyone was trying to American-ize.  I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but that’s just how it was.  Given that, it makes all the sense in the world that Barack was Barry way back when.

But, that’s not the world we live in anymore.  Somewhere along the way (and again I’m not arguing in this post whether it’s wrong or right), we started to celebrate diversity.  Jerry Rivers became Geraldo Rivera.  And, I suspect at that point, Barry became Barack.  He embraced his given name and decided to make his life with that as his name.

Monica Crowley knows that’s the case I’m sure.  But, she knows that panicking people about a very un-radical move is a great way to make a case for voters not to go for Barry, I mean, Barack Obama.

Still scared, Jenny or Jim?  Let me give you one more example. 

I had a friend growing up (and I’m about as old as Barack Obama but much sexier) who went by the name Paul when we were in elementary school together. I kind of lost track of him after high school, but saw Paul again after college.  Guess what he was going by then?  Paolo! 

Yup, that’s right.  As Paul was growing up he never went by his given Italian name.  Heck, I didn’t even know what it was.  He was Paul to me.  Then, somewhere in college he decided to go with the name his parent’s had given him at birth and goes by Paolo to this day.

Is he some kind of radical Italian fascist or communist?  Ms.  Crowley might have you think so.  To me, he’s an insurance executive and a dad living in the suburbs.  Maybe that’s just his cover.

I’ll have to ask Monica Crowley…