Running Primaries Thread

I don’t see it. I view it is a marketing issue. Barack Obama sounds better then Barack Hussein Obama. Just as Hillary uses her first name on all those posters.

Does anyone even know John McCain’s middle name? How about Hillary’s?

 

Exactly. Just because I don't use my middle name in bylines doesn't mean I'm attempting to hide it. I just don't use it, like 99 percent of Americans.

 

John McCain's middle name is Sidney.
He must be Australian.
zag, on the other hand, hails from Moronica.

 

Rodman.

 

Rodham is her maiden name. Diane is her middle name, at least that's what Wikipedia says.

 

Exactly! You had to look it up.

Why is there no such issue with Hillary's middle name not being mentioned...

 

I don't think it's a big deal but the Obama folks are a tad touchy about it's use.

I agree with your earlier suggestion that it's a marketing issue. Use of "Hussein " is just not deemed an advantage.

Presidents have liked to promote their middle name though in many cases:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Dwight David Eisenhower
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Richard Millhouse Nixon
George W Bush
William Jefferson Clinton
George HW Bush
Barack Hussein Obama

 

Promoting a middle initial is not the same as a middle name...

I don't see the Obama folks as touchy at all about it. Some of their supporters, yes, but the Obama camp, no.

 

"Of" is your middle name. Duh.

I knew Obama's middle name would become an issue for the GOP and their supporters at some point. The issue isn't why he doesn't use it. The issue is why are right-wing nut jobs using it? Oh ... maybe because there are morons out there who wouldn't vote for Obama because of his middle name, and last name for that matter, and no other reason.

 

People generally knew those presidents as:

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
John F. Kennedy
Richard Nixon
Bill Clinton

And the only reason for the Bush initials is because there were two of them. Had Fredo never been elected, the elder would have forever been knows as George Bush, not George HW Bush.

 

You left out Lyndon Baines Johnson a/k/a LBJ, whose initials I curse everytime I creep along on I-635.

 

You mean as opposed to the morons out there who would vote for Clinton because Rosie O'Donnell told them so? Or the morons out there would would vote for John McCain because he is not black or a woman?

And here is the latest spin from the Clinton camp's chief crook, Pa. Gov. Ed RendellGotti -- there are only four swing states that matter in this election -- Pa., Florida, Ohio and Missouri and Hillary is the stronger candidate in three of them, therefore, even though she is getting her clock cleaned in every other category, we need to take a look at that. (Of course no explanation is given as to why he believes Obama COULDN'T win those three states against McCain.....)