What's In A Name?

A beautiful picture of Hillary Rodham-Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama trying to out-arrogant each other.

And while I'm using middle names, I have to wonder: Why does John McCain have to apologize for Bill Cunningham's (or is it Bob Cunningham? I don't even know who that guy is) use of Obama's middle name? Why does Michelle Obama refer to the mere mention of her husband's middle name as "the fear bomb"?

What the heck kind of sense does that make? Would you call your husband's middle name a fear bomb?

If someone uses your middle name, it might be a little bit on the rude side, especially if you don't usually use it. I, for example, almost never use my middle name - so for someone to call me by my middle name might come across as a little rude, or else as some kind of joke. But a fear bomb?

Maybe she's referring to the way Mom used to call us by our full names when we'd done something wrong. Now THAT was a fear bomb. But I don't think that's what she's talking about. I think she's using inflammatory rhetoric to elicit an emotional-level response in those who attend her asinine rants (um, her speeches). I think she's also trying to deflect attention from her husband's connections with a Black militant church that actively supports people like Louis Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam thugs.

But I digress.

What the hell is a fear bomb, anyway? What happens when one goes off? What is the maximum effective range of a fear bomb? What is its expected kill raduis?

Is it something we can use in Baghdad?

Further, is your middle name a cause for fear? I have a degree in Arabic from the finest language school in the world, and I couldn't place the meaning of the name Hussein. So I asked a Saudi co-worker what it means. He said it doesn't have a specific meaning, it's just a name. And, it's not really an Arabic name anyway. It is a respectable Muslim name, though. There's nothing wrong with using it.

Evidently, the name "Barack" means "One who has done absolutely nothing, yet for whom women swoon". I make funny, yes? Actually, it means "blessed" or "a person who is blessed with good things". In this context, a handsome person, a smart person, etc might be called by this name.

Michelle Obama has no problem with people using this name to refer to her husband.

I guess if your wife is a high-powered Chicago attorney with a ghetto mouth, any name - even your own - that isn't perfectly flattering is going to be a bomb of some sort. I wonder if The Blessed One is going to drop the shut-your-wife-up bomb any time soon.