John McCain took some heat from certain conservatives earlier this week for apologizing after talk-show host Bill Cunningham repeatedly referred to Barack Obama as “Barack Hussein Obama” at a McCain rally. The general consensus on my local talk-radio station was that McCain was wrong to apologize. “It’s his middle name” went the argument. I had to roll my eyes at that one.

Yes, it is his middle name. Of course, all of his campaign literature refers to him as Barack Obama. And he has published books under the name Barack Obama.

It reminds me of a story my mom told me a few years ago. She works in a nursing home in Lafayette. During the 2003 Louisiana governor’s race, a local Democratic politician visited the nursing home to encourage the staff to vote for Kathleen Blanco, the leading Democrat in the race. When my mom said she didn’t want the Blanco bumper sticker he was handing her, that she way going to vote for Bobby Jindal, he said “Why would you want to vote for Piyush?” He then pointedly refered to Jindal as “Piyush” several more times.

There was a reason this LA politician varied from the norm and used Jindal’s Indian name, just like there was a reason that Bill Cunningham used Obama’s middle name. When your name sounds like someone who might sympathize with terrorists, it can be a liability. At the very least, a strange name can make you sound like someone who “ain’t from around here.” I think Willard “Mitt” Romney avoided this problem since his first name sounds more goofy than foreign.

I’m sure we’ll hear a lot more about “Barack Hussien Obama” in the coming months. Obviously, people can call him that if they want to. And whether John McCain associates himself with those people depends on what type of campaign he wants to run.

This is a rarity. A political music video that’s not that bad. Pretty good actually. A group of artists took the words of a Barack Obama speech and sang/spoke them along with him. I doubt this works with just any candidate.