Conservative radio talk show host Bill Cunningham’s repeatedly referring to Senator Obama as Barack Hussein Obama, strikes me as foolish and wrong on several grounds.

First, there is an adolescent quality to it. Making fun of Obama’s name, which after all Obama himself had nothing to do with, is something you find on elementary school playgrounds all across America. It really shouldn’t be used there, let alone in the world adults inhabit.

If that were all there was to it, it wouldn’t be terribly troublesome. But there is, unfortunately, a more pernicious element at work. Why mention Barack Obama’s middle name except to conjure up in the mind of voters a false impression; namely, that Barack Obama is a Muslim-–and perhaps even a radical one at that. In fact, Obama is a Christian, and to justify the tactic by saying one is simply invoking Obama’s full legal name is at its core dishonest. If his name were Barack Ryan Obama, does anyone on earth believe Bill Cunningham would keep invoking it like a mantra?

Finally, using this tactic will blow up in the face of those who employ it–and worse still, it will hurt the conservative cause by advancing the impression that lurking in the heart of most conservatives is a touch of bigotry, a willingness to appeal to the worse angels of our nature. I utterly reject that charge–but unfortunately men like Bill Cunningham will help give it wings.

If Senator Obama is going to be beaten, it should be in a debate about the issues, about Obama’s political philosophy and ideology, about his record and his actions, and in a way that has integrity. Barack Obama can be beaten, though I suspect it will be quite difficult. But if he is defeated, this is not the way to do it.