Presidential Hatred

[sleigh]

Look, I didn't hide my distaste and distrust for George W. Bush. I thought (and still feel) he was a miserable president with a political and moral agenda that took the country in a dangerous direction. I thought his eight years at the helm resulted in the decay of respect for the United States around the world (and resulted in the implosion of our economy as well).

I disliked him (intensely) as a president, but I never thought of him as "evil." Mostly, I thought of him as insufficiently prepared intellectually for his position. I never doubted that he was doing what he did from a sincere belief that it was -- from his point of view -- best for the country. I'm confident that he loves his family, that he doesn't kick his dog, that he's a good friend to those he likes. If he wanted to sit down with me and share a beer, I'd do it and I wouldn't feel that I was sitting across from Satan Himself. He's a man with whom I have severe differences in outlook and with whom I'm unlikely to agree on much at all, but he's just a human being. Flawed like anyone else.

I didn't wish him dead at any time in his presidency. I didn't believe he was the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler.

The level of vitriol I'm seeing leveled against Obama is troubling. Perhaps I'm misremembering, but the outrage of the left against the Bush administration never seemed to reach this fever pitch of loathing and outright hatred. Yeah, there was a fair amount of vocal anti-Bush sentiment out there, but it seemed less directed at the man than at his policies. The anti-Obama outrage seems more directed toward Obama himself.

I'm beginning to wonder if much of it isn't disguised racism coming to the surface. I find it difficult to fathom the loathing of some of the right wingers toward this man in any other way. They hate Obama not because of his political beliefs and agenda, but because of what he is: a non-white. I wonder how many of the birthers out there are actually more upset that Obama has African heritage than at any imagined discrepancy in his birth record. I wonder if people bringing automatic weapons to Obama rallies aren't substituting guns as a symbol for the lynching noose. I wonder if the preachers saying that God hates Obama and here's the proof in the bible aren't really more upset at his racial heritage. I wonder if "Obama is really a Muslim" isn't code for "OMFG! We have an uppity black man in the White House!"

No, I don't think all criticism of Obama is racially motivated. There are people who are as disturbed by Obama's policies as I was of Bush's. That's fine. I have no problem with that. Criticism of policy is legitimate -- heck, I don't like some of what Obama's done, though that's for the opposite reason the right wing doesn't like it. I feel Obama's been too centrist in his decisions. Actually, Obama's centrist leanings only make the vitriol coming from the far right even more suspicious: look, this is a president who's just a couple inches to the left of center. Obama's not anywhere near as liberal as Johnson or Kennedy. Heck, on the health care issue, he's not as liberal as Richard Nixon. So why is the far right wing frothing at the mouth?

Because for all the progress we've made, there is still a strong undercurrent of racism in America and the election of Obama is bringing it to the surface. That's my hypothesis.

What's yours?

Comments

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

They were convinced on a gut level that Obama was going to lose, that he should have lost, and now that he's proved them wrong they're angry and bewildered, as we all are when reality makes a fool of us.

To be fair, the same could have been said in 2000, and especially in 2004, following Bush's victories over Gore and Kerry.