Why Is Obama's Middle Name Taboo?

Bill CunninghamBarack Hussein Obama, Jr.: that is the full name of the junior Senator from Illinois - neither a contrivance nor, at face value, a slur. But John McCain couldn't apologize quickly enough after Bill Cunningham, a conservative talk radio host, warmed up a Cincinnati rally with a few loaded references to "Barack Hussein Obama." Asked afterwards if it was appropriate to use the Senator's middle name, McCain said, "No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate."

The pundits were quick to applaud McCain's fatwa against the use of Hussein, and broadcasters began trying to report on the controversy without actually saying the name too much, dancing around the offending word as if they were doing a segment on The Vagina Monologues. In both cases, the word comes off as not quite illicit, but certainly a little taboo.

So who gets to say Hussein? At the Oscars, host Jon Stewart took innuendo about as far as it can go, saying that Barack Hussein Obama running today is like a 1940's candidate named Gaydolph Titler. But that reference, served up to a crowd that presumably swoons for Obama, got laughs. So maybe the H-word is more like the N-word: you can say it, but only if you are an initiate. Blacks can use the N-word; Obama supporters can use the H-word.

Obama's campaign thanked McCain's for his apology, claiming a victory for the high road. Fine. But McCain might also know that if middle names become fair game, John Sidney McCain III has his own liabilities. Recently, it has been the unmanly middle names that have caused their owners the most political trouble. In 2006, Jim Henry Webb hammered home the fact that his Virginia Senate opponent was actually George Felix Allen - a middle name that conjured up images of Felix Unger, or perhaps the real life Prince Felix of Luxemburg, either one a far cry from the tobacco-chewing good ole boy Allen styled himself as. In the last presidential election, both Bush and Kerry had middle names inherited from elite East Coast families. But Bush's middle name had much more swagger; you'll never see a TV show called Forbes, Texas Ranger.

Online, the onomastics are already in high gear. Lefty bloggers, in full Obama rapture, point out that Hussein means "beautiful". One conservative observer insinuated that Obama, as a Christian with a Muslim name, might be marked for death by even our allies in the Islamic world, if they think he converted from Islam (for the record, he was never Muslim). By that ornately twisted logic, though, one might add that it was the martyrdom of Hussein in the year 680, beheaded at Karbala in a clash with the caliphate, that gave rise to 1400 years or so of Sunni/Shi'a violence. So how on earth could Obama be a fair broker in Iraq?

The real problem is that if the right wants to start a whispering campaign about the name Hussein, Obama is only helping them. By cutting short the discussion, Obama is banishing his name to the voters' subconscious, where the dark opposites of hope - bigotry and fear - can turn the word over and over again in their minds until November.

The same day that Cunningham was dropping H-bombs on Cincinnati, Obama was at the Democratic debate in Cleveland, hastily accepting Hillary Clinton's assertion that she didn't order the leak of a picture of Obama wearing a turban in Kenya. "I think that's something we can set aside," he said.

It was a missed opportunity. He could have explained that he has nothing to hide. Explained why there's nothing wrong with him dressing in ceremonial clothes on official visits - like batik Bill in Indonesia in 1994 or headscarf Hillary in Eritrea in 1997. Maybe even explained why his middle name is Hussein - what his heritage means, and what it doesn't mean. In short, to reintroduce himself to those general election voters who are just starting to pay closer attention.

No matter what his advisers say, Obama wins nothing by shying away from his differences. After all, Obama is the candidate of change. He should take a cue from McCain's courage on Iraq. Say what you will about McCain, but he knows he's the war candidate. And though may have regretted saying it out loud, McCain clearly accepts that if voters don't buy his vision for the war, he'll lose. It's not too much risk for Obama to stake his campaign on voters' ability to rationally understand the difference between a Hawaii-born Christian and Saddam Hussein, the butcher of Baghdad. View this article on Time.com

Nader For President ???

Ralph Nader's announcement that he is running for president again in 2008 has provided us with perhaps the least surprising surprise of the campaign so far.

Mr Nader has played some sort of role in every race for the White House since 1992 although his record in public life stretches back further still.

As a writer and political activist, Mr Nader has been an influential figure in American public life for 40 years - the scourge of corporate greed and wasteful defence spending and champion of consumer rights and the need to protect the environment.

His public life as measured through the ballot box is not perhaps very successful - he achieved 2.74% of the popular vote in 2000 for example - but his supporters argue that he is a kind of grassroots visionary whose ideas start life on the fringes of political debate then move to the centre.

Consider how all serious politicians are now expected to talk about the environment, they say.

Mr Nader will be best-remembered for the central role he played in the dramas of the 2000 contest between George W Bush and Al Gore which still rankles with many Democrats to this day.

That contest hinged on a virtual dead-heat between the two main candidates in the state of Florida - which after a series of battles in the courts, eventually went the way of Mr Bush.
Democrats point out though that where only a few hundred votes separated Mr Bush from Al Gore, nearly 100,000 people voted for Mr Nader.

Those voters, say Democrats, would clearly have been likely to vote for Mr Gore had Mr Nader not been on the ballot - and so they blame Mr Nader for handing the presidency to George W Bush.

Third-party impact

Mr Nader and his supporters do not buy that argument - and of course America is a democracy where the voters are entitled to vote for the candidate of their choice - but there is no doubt that his candidacy in 2008 will once again raise the whole issue of how tight presidential races between Democrats and Republicans can be affected by third party candidates.

Now very few races will ever be as tight as Florida in 2000, but there is no doubt that a third candidacy can help to determine who wins the White House.

Would Bill Clinton ever have become president in 1992 for example if Ross Perot had not run and taken around 19% of the popular vote?

It is reasonable to assume that at least some of those voters would have plumped for the Republican candidate George Bush senior if Mr Perot had not been around.

There are two ways in which third-party candidates can have a real impact.

First, like Mr Perot they can simply attract a huge number of votes.

Second, like Mr Nader in Florida in 2000, they can attract votes in a finely balanced race and thus effectively hold a kind of balance of power.

It seems reasonable to assume - on the basis of his track record - that Mr Nader is not going to get anywhere near the 19% of the vote that Mr Perot once achieved, so any influence he may have in 2008 will depend on the race being a desperately tight one again.

If it is, then Mr Nader's presence on the ballot may once again be highly significant.

The first candidate to discuss the Nader candidacy, Barack Obama, did not appear troubled by the prospect, though, merely noting that it was the job of a Democratic contender to be so compelling that the prospect of a few per cent of the vote being diverted to another candidate would make no difference to the outcome.

But we should beware of treating the contest for the White House simply as a horse race - rather than as a battle for ideas.

Ralph Nader once characterised the Democrat and Republican contenders for the presidency as "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" - implying that there was very little to choose between them.
Mr Nader's consumer-focused, environment-driven brand of radicalism ensures that a whole other set of ideas will once again get an airing this time around.

Even if he does not affect the outcome, the candidate who now replaces John McCain as the oldest man in the race will at least make it more politically interesting.

Clinton Knocks Obama tactics

US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has made her fiercest denunciation so far of Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic Party nomination.

Mrs Clinton accused the Illinois senator of producing a misleading leaflet on her health care policy.

"Shame on you, Barack Obama!" the New York senator said at a rally in Ohio, which holds its primary in 10 days.

But Mr Obama said he stood by the leaflet, saying he was puzzled by what he called his rival's change in tone.

"Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's playbook," said the former first lady ahead of Ohio's crucial primary early next month.
Both the Ohio and the Texas primaries, both being held on 4 March, are being seen as must-wins for Mrs Clinton.

'Sharper elbows'

Mr Obama, who has won 11 consecutive primaries and caucuses in recent weeks, is now seen as the Democratic front-runner.

But Mrs Clinton's campaign has struggled to find an effective way to cope with her rival's extraordinary momentum and has decided to "go negative", says the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington.

She and her advisers have clearly calculated that the state of the race now calls for sharper elbows and a sharper tone, our correspondent adds.

Mr Obama now has at least 1,353 of the 2,025 delegates he needs to secure the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in August, according to an Associated Press projection.

Mrs Clinton has 1,264 delegates. Texas and Ohio have a combined total of 334 delegates up for grabs.

Correspondents say the blue-collar vote will be crucial in both contests, and the Clinton campaign has already begun targeting lower-income workers in its ads.

But in his drive to become the first black US president, Mr Obama has recently gained support from some powerful unions, including the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union.

Pacific delegates

Meanwhile, John McCain was given a further boost by the Pacific islands of Northern Marianas which chose its nine Republican delegates on Saturday.

The islands are among three US Pacific territories each sending nine delegates to the Republican convention in Minnesota this September, and delegates have praised the former Vietnam prisoner for his knowledge of their islands.

Republicans in American Samoa also announced that all nine of their delegates would support Mr McCain.

Guam Republicans take their decision on 8 March.

The latest results give the Arizona senator a total of 976 delegates, according to the Associated Press, and he needs 1,191 delegates to secure the Republican nomination.

His rival, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, trails far behind with 254 delegates.

US missile hits 'toxic satellite'

The US has successfully struck a disabled spy satellite with a missile fired from a warship in waters west of Hawaii, military officials say.
Operatives had only a 10-second window to hit the satellite - USA 193 - which went out of control shortly after it was launched in December 2006.

Officials were worried its hydrazine fuel could do harm, but it is not yet known if the fuel tank was destroyed.

The controversial operation has been criticised by China and Russia.

On Thursday, China called on the US to provide more information about the mission.

Russia suspects the operation was a cover to test anti-satellite technology under the US missile defence programme.

The US denies the operation was a response to an anti-satellite test carried out by China last year, which prompted fears of a space arms race.

Precision needed

The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says this operation was hugely ambitious.

The operation went ahead hours after the space shuttle Atlantis landed, removing it as a safety issue for the military.

The satellite - believed by some commentators to be a radar imaging reconnaissance satellite - was passing about 130 miles (210km) over the Pacific.

Earlier the military said it would use an SM-3 missile fired from the cruiser USS Lake Erie, which is posted on the western side of Hawaii along with the destroyers USS Decatur and USS Russell.

But it is not yet known how successful the operation was - the missile needed to pierce the bus-sized satellite's fuel tank, containing more than 450kg (1,000lbs) of toxic hydrazine, which would otherwise be expected to survive re-entry.

The Pentagon said confirmation that the fuel tank has been hit should be available within 24 hours.

US officials said without an attempt to destroy the fuel tank, and with the satellite's thermal control system gone, the fuel would now be frozen solid, allowing the tank to resist the heat of re-entry.

If the tank were to land intact, it could leak toxic gas over a wide area - harming or kill humans if inhaled, officials had warned.

Debris

Officials expect that over 50% of the debris will fall to Earth within the first 15 hours after the strike - or within its first two revolutions of Earth.


Left to its own devices, about half of the spacecraft would have been expected to survive the blazing descent through the atmosphere, scattering debris in a defined "corridor" which runs across the Earth's surface.

Professor Richard Crowther, a space debris expert with the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), said that if struck with the missile, about 25% of USA 193 is likely to survive the fall to Earth.

"The smaller the debris is the more likely you are to get burn-through. So if you fragment something before re-entry, less mass will survive to hit the Earth," he told BBC News.

Russian suspicion

But Russia's defence ministry has effectively branded the US operation a cover for testing an anti-satellite weapon.

The Russian defence ministry argued that various countries' spacecraft had crashed to Earth in the past, with many using toxic fuel on board, but that this had never before merited "extraordinary measures".

Last year, China carried out a test using a ground-based ballistic missile to destroy a satellite in space, prompting international alarm and fears of a space arms race.

On Tuesday, a US State Department spokesman stressed that the action was meant to protect people from the hazardous fuel and was not a weapons test.

The US government has also denied claims that the main aim of the operation was to destroy secret components on USA 193.

Officials say classified parts would be burned up in the atmosphere and, in any case, that would not be a reason for shooting down the satellite.

Dems battle for Wisconsin, Hawaii; McCain wants knockout

Wisconsin and Hawaii become the latest battlegrounds in the struggle for the Democratic presidential nominee Tuesday, while Republican Sen. John McCain is looking for victories to finally knock his last remaining major rival out of the race.

In the Democratic presidential race, Sen. Barack Obama is looking to increase his lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for delegates with wins in the Wisconsin primary, one of the nation's oldest, and the Hawaii Democratic caucuses, the state were the Illinois senator was born and where he still has family.

Obama was able to stake a claim on the front-runner position after winning eight contests in a row, including the Potomac primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia last week.

Obama leads Clinton, a senator from New York, in the overall delegate count -- 1,262 to 1,213, according to CNN estimates. The estimate includes the support of superdelegates, the party officials and elected officials who are free to vote for any candidate at the party's national convention.

Both candidates are short of the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination, and it is very likely the roughly 800 superdelegates will ultimately decide who will be crowned the Democrat's presidential nominee.

Recent polls show Clinton has a chance in Wisconsin at ending Obama's winning streak. According to an American Research Group poll conducted February 15 and 16, the two candidates are in a statistical tie, with Clinton at 49 percent and Obama at 43 percent. The poll's margin of error is plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.

Another poll of Wisconsin Democratic primary voters conducted by Research 2000 for Madison television station WISC also indicates the race is too close to call. The WISC poll had Obama at 47 percent and Clinton at 42 percent. The poll's margin of error is plus-or-minus 5 percentage points.

In Wisconsin, Clinton is expected to do well in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and the the industrialized Fox River valley, which includes Appleton and Green Bay, in the northeastern portion of the state. Both areas have a high percentage of blue collar voters, a group Clinton has done well with in previous primaries.

In a campaign stop in the Green Bay-area town of De Pere, Wisconsin, Clinton continued to hit on economic issues.

"The economy is not working, " she said. "What we really need in America is an economy that's producing good jobs with rising wages for everybody willing to work hard. I've been focused on the economy throughout the campaign."

Obama is expected to do well in the state's capital, Madison, which is known for its progressive politics. Obama, who has outperformed Clinton among younger voters, should also do well in the Madison area because of the large student body at the University of Wisconsin.

In the week leading up to Tuesday's primaries, Obama spent much of his time campaigning in Wisconsin, while Clinton split her time between Wisconsin, Texas and Ohio. Texas and Ohio hold primaries March 4, and even Clinton's own supporters suggest she must do well in those two delegate-rich states to keep Obama from winning the nomination.

While on the campaign trail last week, Clinton questioned whether Obama could deliver on his rhetoric, saying "I am in the solutions business. My opponent is in the promises business."
While campaigning in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Obama responded to Clinton's criticism.

"Speeches don't put food on the table, but the only way that we're going to bring about change is if all of you get excited about change, because that's the only way that we're going to take on the special interests," he said.

No polling is available for the Hawaii Democratic caucus. The Clinton campaign dispatched Chelsea Clinton, the candidate's daughter, to rally support. Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, has stumped for her brother.

Washington State Democrats are also heading to the polls Tuesday to vote in that state's primary, but the results will have no impact on how the Washington state delegates will be distributed. The delegate allocation was determined February 9 when Washington state Democrats held caucuses. Obama won those handily over Clinton, 68 percent to 31 percent.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is looking for big wins in the Wisconsin and Washington state primaries to demonstrate he is starting to unify the Republican party behind his nomination, including conservatives upset by his positions on immigration, campaign finance and other issues.

In a further sign the GOP establishment was starting to rally around him, former President Bush endorsed McCain Monday during an event in Houston, Texas.

Washington State Democrats are also heading to the polls Tuesday to vote in that state's primary, but the results will have no impact on how the Washington state delegates will be distributed. The delegate allocation was determined February 9 when Washington state Democrats held caucuses. Obama won those handily over Clinton, 68 percent to 31 percent.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is looking for big wins in the Wisconsin and Washington state primaries to demonstrate he is starting to unify the Republican party behind his nomination, including conservatives upset by his positions on immigration, campaign finance and other issues.

In a further sign the GOP establishment was starting to rally around him, former President Bush endorsed McCain Monday during an event in Houston, Texas.

"I'd like to think we've got enough support in Wisconsin, that we can actually win here, and it would be a very big thing for us," Huckabee said during a campaign stop in Hudson, Wisconsin, Monday. "But it would also be a good thing for Wisconsin for me to win, because it would show that the party was wrong to say this is over, and it would also be wrong to end the game before people in places like Wisconsin had a chance to vote."

Recent polls suggest the Republican race in Wisconsin is closer than McCain would like. The American Research Group poll conducted February 15-16 has McCain and Huckabee in a statistical tie, with McCain with 46 percent and Huckabee at 42 percent. The poll's margin of error was plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.

The WISC poll conducted February 13-14, however, gave McCain a clear lead over Huckabee, 48 percent to 32 percent. The poll's margin of error was plus-or-minus 5 percentage points.

No recent poling is available for the Washington Republican primary, which the state party uses to allocate nearly half of the state's delegates. The other half of the state's delegates were allocated according to the results of caucuses held February 9.

McCain won a plurality of the caucus vote with 26 percent. Huckabee came in second with 24 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul came in third with 22 percent.

US Orders Massive Recall Of Beef

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has ordered the recall of 143m lb (64.9m kg) of beef - the largest meat recall in the country's history.

The recalled products come from a California meat plant, which officials say broke rules on cattle inspections.

However, the department says the health hazard is minimal. Much of the meat was purchased for school lunch and other federal nutrition programmes.

The plant is also being investigated over alleged animal cruelty.

Caution

The USDA recalled frozen beef products from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co, dating back to 1 February 2006.

The move surpasses a 1999 recall of 35m lbs of ready-to-eat meats, officials said.

Some of the beef was destined for federal welfare assistance programmes, as well as some major fast-food chains.

But officials said most of the recalled meat has probably already been eaten.

The USDA described the recall as Class 2 - meaning there is a remote probability that the product could harm health if consumed.

"We don't know how much product is out there right now. We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action," Dick Raymond, USDA undersecretary for food safety, told AP news agency.

Downer

The recall was ordered after department officials said the plant did not consistently order inspections of cattle which lost the ability to walk prior to slaughter.

Such "downer" cattle are at greater risk of contamination by E. coli, salmonella or contracting mad cow disease, as they have weaker immune systems and greater contact with faeces than walking cattle.

They should either be removed from the food supply, or receive a more thorough inspection following slaughter, officials say.

Operations at the plant had already been suspended after an undercover video shot by the Humane Society of America came to light.

The video appeared to show crippled and ill animals being prodded with the blades of a forklift truck, kicked, given electric shocks and sprayed with high-pressure water hoses by staff.

Two former employees were charged with animal cruelty on Friday, and the investigation continues.

The company says it has now taken action to ensure all employees handle animals humanely.

Fight For Superdelegates Heats Up

With the Democratic presidential race tied to a complex delegate system, the Clinton and Obama camps went after each other Sunday over "superdelegates."

Superdelegates -- delegates to the National Democratic Convention --are not selected based on the party primaries and caucuses in each U.S. state, but rather based solely on their status as current or former elected officeholders and party officials. They are free to choose the candidate they like.

"'Superdelegates' doesn't mean that they should leap over the will of the people in a single bound," joked Sen. Barack Obama's chief political strategist David Axelrod on CBS' "Face the Nation."

But Sen. Hillary Clinton's communications director Howard Wolfson told CBS that those approximately 800 delegates "are supposed to vote their conscience."

And Lanny Davis, a former White House special counsel supporting Clinton, told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that Obama "very ironically wants to change the rules of the game in the middle of the game."

Obama leads in the overall delegate count and among pledged delegates, who are assigned based on primaries and caucuses. Clinton has more superdelegates supporting her, and the overall count is close. Neither is expected to have enough pledged delegates to win the nomination before the party's convention in August.

Making things even more complicated, the pledged delegate count does not directly reflect the popular vote. For example, in the Nevada caucuses, Clinton won by six points, but Obama ended up with one more delegate because of the way that state awards its delegates.

Upcoming contests this week in Wisconsin, Washington state and Hawaii are expected to favor Obama, but the campaigns are looking to March 4, when delegate-rich Texas and Ohio hold their contests.

Clinton is aiming for those critical victories that could help her recover in both the delegate count and the fight for political momentum.

Clinton is also hoping for a win in Pennsylvania in April.

The Clinton camp is also working to shore up its support among superdelegates. News reports in recent days have indicated that some African-American superdelegates are rethinking their support for her, given the strong support for Obama among their constituents.

But Wolfson wrote off those concerns Sunday, telling reporters, "I think that all Democrats have a difficult choice in this election. We have two strong candidates with broad appeal. We feel very good about our support in the African-American community and we are quite confident that our superdelegate support is holding firm."

While divided over which candidate to support, Democrats are largely agreed that the battle over delegates needs to be resolved without a sense that superdelegates -- which include Democratic lawmakers, governors, and other VIPs -- are making a decision that opposes what voters want.

"There has to be some agreement between the Clinton and Obama campaigns as to how to handle it," New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a prominent supporter of her campaign, said Sunday. "We need to win in November and if one side tries to shove down the throats of the other side any rule, so that that camp today or all of her or his supporters walk away upset, we will lose."

And that's not the only potential looming battle. There's also the matter of seating delegates from Michigan and Florida. The Democratic Party penalized those two states for moving their primaries early, and determined their delegates would not be seated at the convention, where the nominee is decided.

Both states voted overwhelmingly for Clinton -- though in Michigan, her name was the only one on the ballot. In Florida, voters turned out in record numbers despite the party's decision.

If the party sticks to its plan, Democratic voters in those two key swing states may be turned off and be less likely to turn out in November.