Bob Kerrey and Obama's Middle Name

This story is getting some serious legs. Former senator Bob Kerrey, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton, found time for a left-handed compliment of Barack Obama:

"I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim," Kerrey is quoted as saying. "There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal."

Or as the post puts it:

KERREY'S PRAISE OF BARACK A BIG O-BOMBO

Heh.

When questioned further Bob Kerrey doubled down:

Kerrey said he's spoken to Obama and his staffers and told them to "lead with it as a strength. There's this nonsense out there about him being a Muslim Manchurian candidate. He should do a commercial, look the camera straight in the eye, and say, 'My wife Michelle and I are Christians, but my father was a Muslim and my paternal grandfather was a Muslim, and that fact and my name means I can speak to a billion people around the world" who need to hear from the United States.

He can't do anything about the Muslim connections, nor should he, but the middle name being Hussein is an anchor for Obama. He should have legally changed it at least when he first got in the race. It's like being a politician and having bad teeth. You fix what he can, and he should have "fixed" the name.

And is Bob Kerrey being serious? I doubt it. Obama would be almost impossible to elect in a general election for exactly the reasons that Bob Kerrey listed as huge Obama strengths, in addition to being new and untested. It's a perfect play at this point for Hillary to remind Democratic voters that Obama is unelectable, but it would be even better if someone unconnected to the campaign said it.

Whether Bob Kerrey was serious or not, his compliment of Obama helped Hillary's electability narrative.