My name is Barack 'Hussein' Obama: US Prez on why Modi 'concerns' him

When Narendra Modi goes to the United States in September he can rest assured of a red-carpet welcome. It will probably be even more “red-carpet” than usual to lay to rest any lingering doubts about the long visa-denial cloud that hung over chief minister Modi.

But bygones are not entirely bygones according to this column by KP Nayar in The Telegraph .

Nayar writes that Barack Obama was at a very exclusive fundraiser for the Democrats when one of the “fat cat donors” asked about India’s new prime minister.

Obama replied in his calm, no-nonsense style that he continued to have concerns about Modi’s past. The reply shook up the small audience which was hanging on to every word that came out of the president.

Nayar writes that the audience was surprised because the breathless coverage of Modi after his decisive victory had given them the impression that Washington had pretty much made a U-turn on Modi. His invitation to visit the White House when he came for the UN General Assembly is not an honour that’s often extended.

But more was to follow. Someone asked a follow-up question asking Obama what his concerns were.

His reply was a classic. Once again, the answer vindicated the 2008 rhyming description of him during his first presidential campaign as “No Drama Obama.” “My name is Barack HUSSEIN Obama,” was all that he said in a reply that was pithy but pregnant in its implications.

Nayar clarifies the emphasis in those six words is his, not Obama’s. This is not a first-hand story. Nayar cannot name names and says he was sworn to secrecy by the person who was present at the fundraiser and told him about the incident. But he writes that he cross-checked the veracity of this encounter with a second donor who also would not reveal his name. It’s all word of mouth and there’s no cell-phone footage.

But politicians can get candid sometimes especially when they are off-camera and if true this is an astonishing revelation. Nayar says this might be only the third time Obama has used his middle name. The other two were when he was sworn in as the president in 2009 and in 2013.

Even in 2009 there was enormous speculation about whether or not he would use Hussein for his swearing-in. ABC News writes that there was no requirement to do so. Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter did not use their middle names. Carter, in fact, was sworn in as Jimmy. When Obama chose to say Barack Hussein Obama a lot was read into it.

Nick Schifrin, ABC’s digital correspondent in Islamabad said" “If you talk to anyone here, no matter how poor, it seems they know Barack HUSSEIN Obama became the president of America. They don’t necessarily think his Muslim father will translate into different policies — but they certainly hope so.”

Actually Nayar is not entirely accurate. Obama has used his middle name elsewhere as well though not necessarily in the US. In his address to the Muslim word from Cairo, Obama said , “Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected president.”

In America however his middle name has been used more by his most implacable foes on the right-wing than by him.It is regarded as the “H-bomb”. Ann Coulter, a right-wing pundit, likes to call him B. Hussein Obama. His opponent John McCain apologized after a right-wing talk show host at his own rally kept calling Obama Barack Hussein Obama to get the crowd worked up. He found it “disparaging” of Obama. Obama’s campaign thanked McCain for the apology and for taking the high road. The whole episode, while well-intentioned, inadvertently just added to the great taboo under Obama’s middle name wrote Nathan Thornburgh in Time .

The real problem is that if the right wants to start a whispering campaign about the name Hussein, Obama is only helping them. By cutting short the discussion, Obama is banishing his name to the voters’ subconscious, where the dark opposites of hope — bigotry and fear — can turn the word over and over again in their minds until November.

Obama himself has even joked about it. At a charity dinner, he pointed out that Mitt was actually Mitt Romney’s middle name. Romney’s first name is Willard. I wish I could use my middle name, deadpanned Obama to rousing applause.

But jokes aside, the fact remains that Obama is very judicious and picky about where to use the Hussein. That’s why, this story, if true, is bound to raise eyebrows.

Obama has been effusive and gracious in his praise of Manmohan Singh. “I can tell you here at the G20, when the prime minister speaks, people listen,” Obama had said about the man often made fun of in India for his silences. He’s said little about Modi. Obama called Modi to congratulate him after his victory and the big visit in September was about showing that actions speak louder than words. PTI reports that three US lawmakers have asked the Congressional leadership to invite Modi to address a joint session of Congress.

”We have an opportunity to build on the US-India strategic partnership to the benefit of both our nations. India is a growing economic power in a strategically important region of the world. New Delhi plays a critical role in regional peace and security,” they wrote in a letter.

But India-US relations have been going through a rough patch. First there was the Devyani Khobragade affair that resulted in tit-for-tat measures including preventing the American Center from screening films, a restriction that has finally been quietly lifted. The US Ambassador Nancy Powell resigned soon after a belated meeting with Modi and there is currently an interim ambassador. Now there is a new spying row about reports in the Washington Post that the country’s National Security Agency had sought permission to spy on the BJP along with other parties including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan’s PPP. India has summoned a top US diplomat to the external affairs ministry.

India has been walking a delicate balancing act with these revelations which do not necessarily mean that the NSA did spy on the BJP. Syed Akbaruddin of the foreign ministry called it “unacceptable” and said “if these reports are correct, we will take this up with them again.” That’s proper but hardly the fire and brimstone chest-thumping reaction the BJP deployed during the UPA regime when Modi would describe Manmohan Singh as a weak cringing figure. At a rally in Delhi, Modi relished drawing a portrait of the groveling PM, begging on bended knee, “Obama-ji, I have come from India. I am the PM of a poor country.”

Clearly New Delhi thinks the grand welcome planned for September will be tantamount to whatever apology Modi feels he is deserved and does not want to jeopardize it. Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff had to pull out of a US visit when it was revealed the NSA had spied on her presidential communications system.

That’s why this new revelation, if true, is doubly perplexing. Why would Obama, whatever his private feelings, drop the H-bomb on a visit that is both so delicately poised and has so much riding on it?

It might have been a closed-door fundraiser, but in planning for a red-carpet welcome, it’s surprising that Obama did not just sweep old baggage under the carpet.