Where immigrants throughout the centuries have adjusted their names to fit in in America (Walid, who manages the local convenience store in my town goes by Wally, and an Albanian friend of my father, Bilbil, goes by Billy, for two examples), a guy who went by Barry as a kid's deliberate choice to use his full foreign name comes across as a deliberate rejection of America and its sensibilities. Reinforcing this sort of thing with the "clinging to God and guns" sneer, and a wife asserting that she's never been proud of her country until they nominated a black man for president (because two centuries of providing a refuge against oppression and tyranny and setting the standard for freedom is not enough for a couple who have made a living on being black). You can't fool all the people all the time, and its all these little things that add up to this alien perception of Obama, not because his name is a little different or his skin is darker than normal, but because of his embrace of that alien-ness and perceived rejection of Americanisms.

No doubt he has good reasons for his personal choices in this matter, but things like this are supposed to be the kind of luxury you forego, like privacy and youthful good looks, as a sacrifice to the office. Anti-military presidents swallow their bile and hand out medals to soldiers. Secular presidents bow their heads at religious occasions. Conservative presidents honor PC achievements. Christian presidents wish the country a happy hanukah or ramadan, and so forth. Not the guy who's too good for "Barry."