Candidate Obama joked at the Al Smith dinner that whoever "gave me my middle name (Hussein) wasn't thinking about my candidacy."
Lots of bigots tried to swift boat Barack on Ayers, socialists, Saul Alinsky and his middle name. None of it stuck. In the last desperate weeks of the campaign, John McCain came unglued about a videotape supposedly held by the L.A. Times showing a speech by Obama praising a Palestinian scholar--OMG!
Obviously the McCainsters were playing to Jewish voters in Florida to support a steady friend of Israel, McCain, not some guy with that name and possible hidden anti-Israeli sentiments. Will we ever forget the "Who is Barack Obama" postcards and TV spots?
Fast forward. Obama's first appointment is, I'm not making this up, a guy whose middle name will settle any argument. Rahm Israel Emanuel. Talk about your middle names.
Garvey then goes on to criticize Rahm Israel Emanuel for being too much of a political moderate. Does that make Garvey an anti-Semite?
As a descendant of Israel Wigderson, I take any criticism of Israel personally.
