The problem isn't that they're saying it. It's the reason they're saying it, and it doesn't require mind reading usually to figure this out.

That said, I agree with you that he (and his campaign and supporters) should definitely refrain from playing the victim. I think it's acceptable to call it out when it's clearly being used to incite (one poster on TPM frequently refers to him as B. Hussein Osama), but that ignoring it will usually be the best course of action.

Thank you, Dan.

Think of the Republicans as Nelson of "The Simpsons" playing the "quit hittin' yourself!" game. We know the response of the target should be much more than, "Ow! Stop it! I'm tellin'!" You've got to strongly, accurately, with all fairness, knock the bully on his ass. And deliver a bit of turned-the-tides mockery.

Obama has nothing to be ashamed of, but those who insist on using his middle name all the time are trying to form an association in the public's mind between Barack Hussein Obama and the late, not so lamented, Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
But of course, Hussein is a common name just not familiar to the majority of Americans.
The slime has as much substance as trying to suggest all persons with the name "Joseph" are potential murderous tyrants because that was Stalin's first name.
Obama has a cool style and doesn't seem to get rattled by nonsense. On the other hand, just to ignore the slime suggested by using his middle name is probably not smart either. I suppose the best for Obama to do is himself to make a point of responding, when necessary, by making a point of using others' middle names until the air leaks out of that tire.

Oregon Activist:

Obama doesn't complain about the use of his middle name. That's the thing. I don't think Obama cares much about this. I think he expected it and thinks Americans are above it. He mentioned his name in the 2004 Democratic Convention. He has always been aware of its effects.

I think the greater complaints are coming from the exaggerated wink-wink use of it by those discussing it in the context of "you can't trust this guy because of his secret Muslim identity". And I think there are more screams about this by well-meaning Obama supporters than the campaign itself. It will try to score points where it will, but it is the media and supporters who are more ruffled by this.

I think Obama was more annoyed by the photo (he did look pretty silly - hardly threatening), than the repetition of his middle name.

The way to deal with this sort of nonsense is for Obama and his supporters to embrace his middle name. "I was given this name by my parents, and I'm proud of it! It's a good, strong, proud name." Should an American named Joe have been ashamed because Stalin shared that name? Should an American named George be ashamed because you-know-who has the same name? Seize back your name, Barack Hussein Obama, seize it back and don't let them steal it from you. Make us proud of your name.

Juan Cole, over at "Informed Comment" has a good write up on names, focusing on the meanings and sources for Barack and Hussein.

When Obama becomes president, we can just call him "H".

When people emphasize the "Hussein", all they are really doing is throwing a gang sign to their fellow lizard-brained travelers. It's the rhetorical equivalent of a fart joke.

As such, IMO the proper response is to treat the offender the same way that you'd treat an eight year old who rips off a good one - it's not worth any more reaction then an indulgent pat on the head and a confident dismissal. If they keep it up, remind them that the kiddie table is off yonder, and that they best scoot off - the grownups have some important work to do.

Many of us at the Obama website (and as noted above)have adopted Hussein as our middle name in a show of unity. Some scoff, but I find it a valid form of peaceful protest.

No one says George Walker Bush, they just call him George W. Bush, or just George Bush.

No one says Bill Jefferson Clinton, they just say Bill Clinton.

What's in the name Hussein is irony. Irony that America killed 3 Husseins, Saddam and his two sons because they refused to surrender and leave Iraq before we invaded it on the premise of the harboring weapons of mass destruction and causing the terror attacks on 9/11/2001.

Glad someone's blogging on this.

My own take on the "correct Barack reponse", posted here, goes something like:

"Yes, my middle name is Hussein. It's a wonderful name. It's a diminutive of 'Hassan' and means 'good' or 'handsome.' The name has been carried by some staunch allies of the U.S., such as King Hussein of Jordan, who also concluded a peace treaty with Israel. I am not only proud of my name, I am proud of the thousands of patriotic American Muslims who carry it, even if they do not share my Christian faith. We must always remember that the strength of America is in the diversity of the people who come together to form this unique and amazing society."

Kind of surprised Team Obama isn't more out in front on this.

Yes, I was going to make the comment about the late King Hussein of Jordan and his peacemaking role. There are many many good people in the world with the name Hussein. Just because Saddam Hussein wasn't a good guy shouldn't tarnish the name. And every time I hear someone disparage the name Hussein, it reminds me that so many people in America don't have passports, haven't traveled and are sometimes xenophobic about what they don't know or understand. It's really ridiculous making so much of a name when there are important issues to be addressed.

I keep wanting to Obama campaign to point out that John McCain has the same first name as John Gotti, the Mafia kingpin. "You don't want a president who's part of the Mafia, do you? Well, umm, actually, (cough) McCain isn't (cough), BUT HE HAS THE SAME FIRST NAME, WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?" I think that really makes the point. Of course, I'm not the candidate, and bright ideas like that are why it's probably a good thing. But still, I'd like to hear someone say it.

The self-serving and shameless hypocrisy of the Obamanauts is laugh-out-loud funny.

"How dare these hateful Clintonistas and Republitards refer to our Savior by his ... real name?!? By exploiting the fact of his middle name these haters wish to portrary him as foreign, exotic, the OTHER... when we all know that being conceived out of wedlock to an 18 year old mother named Stanley and a globe trotting inseminator named Obama (who himself was the product of the second of his Muslim father's three polygamous marriages) who abandoned the two when Obama Jr., was just two leaving Stanley to remarry an Indonesian Muslim named Lelo and taking baby Obama off to live in Indonesia to attend Catholic and Muslim schools and God knows what else and then sending little Obama off to Hawaii to be raised by his white Kansan grandparents, there to attend an exclusive elite prep school where he bided his time playing hoops, smoking blunts, and snorting coke and then to attend Occidental College and then to invoke his affirmative action privileges available to him only by virtue of the seminal contribution of the absentee father he never knew to be admitted to two Ivy League schools so that after little adult accomplishment he can be elected to the US Senate and run for President two years later ...

Why, our guy's life arc is as normal and typical and as American as apple pie. How dare these haters portray him as an OTHER by daring to use his middle name?