[img]957|left|||no_popup[/img]The Obama Hates America theme is not hyperbole. It has been relentlessly played for all it is worth from the second then-Democratic Presidential candidate Obama announced in February 2007 the would seek the White House. It was played hard again in the days leading up to the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
A week before the anniversary, Obama’s one little step that could have fed the wacky line was not telling where he would commemorate the day. This in itself supposedly was enough to show that the President disrespects, minimizes, or is cavalier about the hallowed day.
It is none of those things, just another in the pile of supposed anti-American sins Obama is guilty of. The nutty knock of Obama as America-hater is driven in part by ignorance, in part by politics, and in bigger part by race.
The ignorance behind the attack line is easy to understand, and predictable. His name, the birth certificate flap, his frequent statements touting religious respect and tolerance for Muslims, and his refusal to flaunt and wave around his very private and personal expression of his Christian faith fuel the stupidity and suspicion about who and what he really is.
The politics behind the attack line is just as comprehensible. The line was set by Presidential rival John McCain and run hard with by Sarah Palin V.P. pick during the campaign. McCain dropped veiled hints that Obama was a far-out left liberal soft on terrorism, the Iraq war and the Patriot Act enforcement. The implication was once in the White House he’d give away the company store to America’s sworn enemies.
Palin skipped the hints. She practically roared that Obama pals around with terrorists, left dictators, and commies. And that an Obama win would mean a left-wing takeover of the country.
McCain’s hint was shrugged off. Palin’s hint was outright mocked, ridiculed and laughed at by much of the media.
But millions didn’t laugh. They actually believed that Obama fit easily somewhere between Osama and Castro. Polls continued to show that those who said Obama was an alien and a closet subversive hovered in the low double digit figure. In the past month, the same polls show that the number who say that about him has doubled. They are not all Palin clones and cheerleaders. A lot of Independents and Democrats say the same thing.
The True Motivation
Then there’s the unstated; race. There’s always been a deep feeling among many whites that African-Americans are inherent rebels against America’s institutions and values.
During the late 1960s, that feeling took off. The mass civil rights demonstrations, protests, the black power surge, and the urban uprisings turned the myth of permanent black rebellion into the myth of black radicalism. This is and always has been nonsense.
Yet, when facts crash hard against ingrained beliefs, and especially beliefs fueled by racial loathing, it’s no contest which will win out.
Last week, it would not have made much difference whether Obama picked the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery or the moon to commemorate Sept. 11.
His name, his religious tolerance, his race, and the relentless GOP smear machine have created the perfect storm to tag Obama as the President who hates America. The tweets from Palin, right-wing bloggers and talk show gabbers snidely implying Obama hates America probably were typed out days in advance of Sept. 11.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is “How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge” (Middle Passage Press).
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson
