Some Barack Obama supporters are informally adopting the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate’s middle name as their own.  According to the New York Times:

Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.

“Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads.

With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.

Very cool.  Reminds me of the end of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, where children declare one at a time, “I am Malcolm X!”

Barack Obama is an intriguing personality.  By all rights, he has the absolute worst name for politics in the United States.  But here we stand, in classic Americana, embracing the other.

I’ll change my Facebook profile also, proudly adopting the Senator from Illinois’ middle name as my own.

You should consider doing the same.