There’s been a big flap in Ohio because an Ohio radio talk show guy named Bill Cunningham emceed a John McCain rally and several times referred to Senator Obama using his full name, Barack Hussein Obama.

The Democrat base and their far left, loony, socialist-leaning, uber liberal, redistribute-the-wealth friends got their shorts in a twist. Somehow, using Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name gave them a huge wedgie and they didn’t like it.

Why not? It’s his name. On his birth certificate. Why shouldn’t anyone be allowed to use it?

I’m being naive. Of course we know why — because it’s the same name as the brutal dictator we overthrew in Iraq and it’s a Muslim name. In case anyone hasn’t heard, a small but significant percentage of the Muslim population wants to destroy us. The Obama supporters are rightly defensive about the middle name “Hussein.” In today’s poltical climate, I’d be defensive about it, too.

So, why shouldn’t we be reminded that he’s “Hussein” as we go through the campaign?

“Boo-hoo, it’s unfair. He’s not responsible for his name. It’s not his fault.”

So what! It’s part of his package, like being black. That’s not his fault either, but the Democratics don’t miss an opportunity to remind us about it, as if we couldn’t see for ourselves.

That said, too effin’ bad. If you enter politics, or any high-profile, celebrity making profession, your name comes along for the ride, along with your family history, finances, medical condition, extra-marital affairs or anything else a friend or enemy can use to bring you up or shoot you down. “Hussein” is fair game. We can use it, abuse it, say it, spell it, admire it, make fun of it and, what the Democratics are most afraid of — think twice about it.

My friend, Dave in DC, an eminently intelligent and reasonable man who sadly likes Barack Hussein Obama, observes that people are using the name as an insult.

Probably.

The Democratics and MoveOn faithful are certainly making an effort to make us all perceive its use as an insult, effectively co-opting its use. It’s a kind of censorship by acclamation. It’s the same principle the left invoked when they launched into high dudgeon and told us that calling Indians Indians was bad and insulting. The Indians didn’t seem to mind until the touchy-feely crowd kept telling them and us that it was insulting and their well paid spokesmen deposited their gambling proceeds and said, “Uh, oh, yeah, that’s right. We don’t like it.”

Even if it is an insult, that’s my point. We’re free to do with Hussein whatever we want. It’s his NAME. Hillary’s ass is as wide as the Lincoln Tunnel entrance and referring to it is also an insult. Too bad. It’s her ass. Making fun of her cackle, that sounds like it’s coming from a chicken being strangled while trying to lay a square egg, is also an insult. It’s insulting to Larry “Wide Stance” Craig to laugh at his clumsy pick-up technique in a Minneapolis airport bathroom, but they’re his shoes. We’re only responding to what they give us.

Cunningham apologists are bleating that he was justified is inserting “Hussein” because we often use presidential middle names — Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Fitzgerald Kennedy or Richard Milhous Nixon, but that’s a cop out. We and he use Hussein because we’re aware of its negative connotations and the potential power it might have in the voting booth. The left is aware of it as well, which is why they’re attacking people who use it.

Tough tittie, Barack Hussein Obama. We’re just dancing with the name you brung. You don’t like it, too bad. It’s part of the game. How you handle it can be illustrative of how you’ll handle the shitty blips that come up in Presidential life.

As a postscript, the Huffington Post the other day published a story suggesting in ominous tones that Senator McCain’s eligibility as a candidate might be in jeopardy because he was — get this — born in Panama. If this isn’t as much B.S. as “Hussein” I don’t know what is. Courts have ruled many times that if one parent is an American you could be born on the space shuttle and you’d still be an American.

Being born in Panama is part of McCain’s package. It’s a bogus issue, but that didn’t stop HuffPo from trying to make a little hay out of it. Both sides play this game and conservatives shouldn’t be reluctant to use every weapon to keep the left out of the White House. The other side won’t be.

Barack Hussein Obama. Barack Hussein Obama. I like it.