Jim, I also despise the fawning treatment of Obama by the media. Living in Illinois, I've been nauseated by this for the past two years! I wish people would see that, behind his smiling face and mushy, feel-good rhetoric, he is a far-left liberal who has no business being president.

That said, however, there is really nothing to be gained as conservatives by mentioning his middle name (as you sometimes do in your posts about him). It just makes you look like you're desperately trying to knock him down, as if the fact that his name (about which he had no choice) should be a negative factor about him. We need to stick to his VIEWS (and prior votes). As you said, when people start to learn more about his extreme views, some of his luster will rub off.

I like to use Obama's full name on occasion, especially since it aggravates the left. One of our resident lefties even accused me of "racism" for using the man's name!

How can using a candidate's full name be viewed as an attack? Presidents and candidates are often referred to by their full names, and unusual middle names are not rare among recent Presidents: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Richard Milhous Nixon, Harry S Truman (the "S" stood for . . . nothing). Many with more "normal" middle names were often also called by their full appellations: Dwight David Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Ronald Wilson Reagan, William Jefferson Clinton. Democrats used to delight in "George Herbert Walker Bush" for some reason.

Using full names is hardly unusual, and I don't see why using Obama's should be considered detrimental. Of all the candidates I can remember, only Gary Hartpence had bothered to change his name for presumably political purposes.

As I pointed out to one of the leftists who complained, "Hussein" is a very common name in Muslim culture, honoring a revered grandson of the Prophet. If there's nothing wrong with the name, and middle names are often used in Presidential politics, and it IS the guy's name, why on earth is using it inappropriate in any way?

Please, Jim.

If he were Barack JAMES Obama, would you be using his middle name?

Occasionally the Presidents whom you listed had their middle names used, but usually they didn't. Only in very official or formal circumstances did people use Milhous, Wilson, Hebert Walker, or Jefferson for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton respectively. Some politicians (e.g. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Franklin Delano Roosevelt) DO/DID commonly use their middle names. Obama ain't one of them--and you know that.

I can't believe I'm actually defending the guy (Obama), but I'm telling you, using the name Hussein will be perceived as an insult (thereby garnering him sympathy), even though it is his name.

Well, Ron, I can't help but believe the sort of people who would feel "sympathy" for Obama because someone uses his real name are the exact sort of people who probably already support him.

I further submit that anyone so sensitive as to consider the use of his real name an "insult" should probably avoid full-contact activities like politics. Maybe they should take up Nerf dodge-ball or something . . .

;-)

JA

I too think he has no place running for president. That being said, your use of his full name is neither occasional nor casual, and you reinforce it being an issue by doing so as much as you do (said another way: the frequency has me seriously doubting that you are doing it just to agravate a lefty or two). This is not a request for you to stop doing it, I am just looking for a little more honesty regarding motive.

ijosha ~ I use his full name more than I normally might because I hear complaints about it.

I suppose it's a trait inherited from my late father, who found endless amusement when someone would get upset over something he considered ridiculous. Dad would fan the flames of any such situation. When I asked him why he instigated further agitation in one case he replied, with a twinkle in his eye and a wry curl of his lips, "I always try to spread a little oil upon the waters."

As the leftists might say, I am only "speaking Truth to Power." The guy's name is what it is, that's the honest truth.

.

Hell, the black Democrats who refer to Obama as "Halfrican-American" don't catch as much flack as I do - although I suspect they are jealous.

OK, I see. My brother-in-law is the same way.
I suppose the trick is doing it "just enough".
You are apparently held to a different standard than the "halfrican-american" denigrators.