Ever wonder why so many famous actors through the years who happened to be Jewish ended up with very non-Jewish sounding names?

Basically, the Hollywood studios worried that Jewish names would hurt box office and pressure was applied on young actors to come up with names that hid any trace of their ethnic background. Think Kirk Douglas or his son, Michael, for example.

This comes up because it seems as if something similiar is now happening with Barack Obama whose middle name happens to be Hussein, a Muslim name–even though Obama is apparently a Christian.

Today, the Republican National Committee denounced the use of Obama’s middle name by the Tennessee Republican party which used it in a series of press releases.

Just the other day, John McCain denounced a Chicago radio host who helped introduce him at a rally because he,too, used Obama’s middle name.

Are some people trying to use Obama’s middle name to raise suspicions about his religious beliefs or to try and tie him to radical Islamic fundamentalism? Sure. It’s politics and politics is a dirty game.

But, this begs the larger question: Why is Obama’s middle name such a big deal in the first place?

If I were Muslim, I would be totally pissed about this uproar–the suggestion that the name “Hussein” should be kept deep inside some closet.

If Obama is so ashamed of his middle name–and he should NOT be–then he should change his name. Michael Douglas is already taken, but he could change his name to something similiar I suppose.

This whole controversy over Obama’s middle name is nothing more than a repeat of earlier concerns some had about the use of Jewish names.

In both cases…it is a sad commentary.