Three Roads Blog

I’m sorry, I meant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Silly me. Well, can you really blame a guy for getting them confused? Their names are pretty similar.

It’s a new spin on the ‘elect Democrats and the terrorists win’ canard. Now it’s ‘elect Barack Obama and you’re actually electing the leader of al Qaeda.’

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m referring to Mitt Romney’s difficulty in distinguishing Osama bin Laden from Barack Obama. Here’s the transcript of a recent speech, courtesy of the Caucus Blog:

“I think that is a position which is not consistent with the fact,” Mr. Romney said. “Actually, just look at what Osam — uh — Barack Obama, said just yesterday. Barack Obama calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. That is the central place, he said. Come join us under one banner.”

Yes, the names do have similar assonance, but if you think for a second that it was real mistake, you don’t quite understand the depths that Mitt Romney is willing to troll in his quest for the presidency.

First off, Republicans have already been messing with Obama’s name. Remember the flack he got for having the middle name Hussein?

The only difference here is that Mitt is so shamlessly—so clumsily—trying to tar Obama for having a Muslim-sounding name. Mitt thinks this will go down well with the xenophobes whose votes he needs to win the primary.

But Mitt’s going to have to do better than that–for example, next time he needs to make sure he doesn’t start off by saying the right name: “Actually, just look at what Osam — uh — Barack Obama, said just yesterday.”