There is a hashtag trending on Twitter in protest of Maureen Dowd, a prominent, white op-ed columnist for The New York Times who called President Obama  Barry.  The op-ed is called  The Clinton Contamination,  but makes a point of disrespecting President Obama with that racist, derogatory nickname. Right-wingers decided they needed to co-opt the tag to attack the left on Twitter, proving that they really do think everything is about them.Some of them insisted that they were just trying to keep the conversation on Hillary and her many imagined crimes, while others went full birther, and full racist on Obama himself. There are plenty of tweets from liberals attacking conservatives, too, but it s very telling that conservatives refuse to see that Dowd s use of the nickname,  Barry,  is intentionally spoken with racist overtones.#FraudBarry grew up Muslim, mass imported Muslims, & facilitated terrorHe s a terrorist#PresidentObamaNotBarry pic.twitter.com/AZXNWgztpV  Jared Wyand (@JaredWyand) July 10, 2016 I will not show respect to Barry as he is someone who routinely disrespects my intelligence, history, and people#PresidentObamaNotBarry  Appalachian Son (@KinFolkFirst) July 10, 2016(Because white Southerners are such an oppressed group of people, are they not?)#PresidentObamaNotBarry Not falling for your hashtag that takes away from Hillary corruption! #ClintonContamination https://t.co/UvzioP9dRL  Sabrina (@Z3pp3in) July 10, 2016 His OWN MOTHER called him Barry ferkryssakes. HIS CHILDHOOD FRIENDS. Stop whitesplaining you liberal freaks. #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Annie #NeverTrump (@bloodless_coup) July 10, 2016i know the left needs constant distractions to keep its latent internal divisions from tearing it apart, but c mon#PresidentObamaNotBarry  Yung Harambe (@TrumpHat) July 10, 2016 Barry had the perfect opportunity to unite this country. Instead he created a race war. #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Joe (@PatriotinOC) July 10, 2016(White racists who spew hateful rhetoric against the entire black community can t possibly be the problem here.)#PresidentObamaNotBarry is a hashtag that offends people? People should be more offended by a POTUS that lies constantly & divides you.  LATiffani (@LATiffani1) July 10, 2016 I don t normally rail against political correctness but #PresidentObamaNotBarry is a politically correct cover up for #ClintonContamination.  Daniel Knight (@DanielK41727521) July 10, 2016#PresidentObamaNotBarry he is a liar covering another liar pic.twitter.com/LM5sZJzMb6  Jenna Abrams (@Jenn_Abrams) July 10, 2016 #PresidentObamaNotBarryHey Progs! Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry Barry & Barry  Peter Deacon (@AmerPatriot1) July 10, 2016Barry Soetoro? Isnt that his real name? #PresidentObamaNotBarry  01000110 01010101 (@hitman0321) July 10, 2016 BARRY Hussein Obama doesn t deserve respect. He s a traitor.#PresidentObamaNotBarry  Patrick Henry (@FightNowAmerica) July 10, 2016There are, of course, some saying that calling George W. Bush  Dubya,  Bill Clinton  Slick Willie,  and Richard Nixon  Tricky Dick  are exactly the same as calling Obama  Barry.  Here s why they aren t:  Barry  is what the birthers were calling Obama way back when they started their racist birther horse pucks. It carries a racist connotation because the birther movement made it that way.Besides that,  W.  may have been created as a way to distinguish George W. from his father, George H.W. way back in the 1970s.  Tricky Dick  and  Slick Willie,  while disrespectful, weren t created with racist intentions. But racists can t be expected to understand that. They re the most put-upon demographic in the nations.So after Dubya, Slick Willie, Tricky Dick, etc., you re telling me Barry s off the table? Go find better outrages. #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Thomas Keister (@thomaskeister) July 10, 2016 So can we also not use Honest Abe, Bill, or Dubya? Just saying. #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Amanda Johnson (@ama_ro_jo) July 10, 2016Didnt everyone call Bush  Dubya ? Dont Obama s own supporters call him  Barry ? Yall need to calm down & make memes. #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Jackie From Allstate (@AllstateJackie) July 10, 2016 George Bush was called  W  and not a fuck was given. Get over your silly-assed outrage  #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Brian Hammons (@BriHam8) July 10, 2016The creator of the hashtag, Peter Daou, stuck around on Twitter to explain why he created it in the first place, as well as defend it. There were others, too, who pointed out that this is possibly the worst time to run an op-ed that uses an intentionally racially-charged nickname for our first black president.I created #PresidentObamaNotBarry because a prominent white NYT columnist calling our first black POTUS  Barry  is profoundly disrespectful.  Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 10, 2016 It s demeaning, disrespectful of the office, belittling and racially-tinged. Does that help? #PresidentObamaNotBarry https://t.co/TFbusVzn3I  Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 10, 2016Considering profound race issues facing U.S., @nytimes should APOLOGIZE for allowing @NYTimesDowd to refer to @POTUS as  Barry.  A disgrace.  Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 10, 2016 After this week in America? No, @NYTimesDowd Just No. #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Gnu Bangs  (@GopSux2) July 10, 2016Dowd referring to POTUS as  Barry  in  The Clinton Contamination  attempts to further divide us after a tragic week. #PresidentObamaNotBarry  Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) July 10, 2016 Tell Maureen Dowd she ought to refer to President Obama with respect, especially at a time like this #PresidentObamaNotBarry@NYTimesDowd  Millennials4Hillary (@StillWithHer) July 10, 2016As of the time of this posting, #PresidentObamaNotBarry had well over 28,000 tweets, and was the second top trending hashtag on Twitter. By contrast, #ClintonContamination was a distant fourth. Featured image via Sean Gallup/Getty Images