The only surprise when Sarah Palin tweeted out her message to followers likening President Obama to Hitler was that it took so long for her to make the comparison. Her Tea Party pals, and a rogue’s list of GOP and right-wing hacks, bigots, loudmouths and spin artists took giddy delight in making the Obama to Hitler comparison even before he put a foot in the Oval Office.
Fox News’s Tom Sullivan was the first in the door with the Obama-as-Hitler lunacy in February 2008 when he played a side-by-side recording of Hitler’s and Obama’s speeches.
Clear Channel’s Bill Cunningham, foul- mouth gab queen Ann Coulter, her male counterpart, Mike Savage, Limbaugh, Cal Thomas, and, of course, Glenn Beck quickly took up the Obama-as-Hitler chant. With that, the Obama-as-Hitler line was firmly set. The only thing missing was a mob setting to do an imitation torchlight parade complete with banner, signs and posters with Obama depicted as Hitler. The mob parades were Tea Party rallies where Obama-as- Hitler agitprop paraphernalia was on full display.
Sowell Music to Their Ears
Now there’s Palin.
In a bit of crude craft, she slyly compared Obama to Hitler by exhorting her Twitter followers to read a recent column by right-wing pseudo egghead writer Thomas Sowell. He pilloried Obama for armtwisting BP to set up the $20 billion escrow fund. The fund is to help repair and compensate the victims of its Gulf ruin.
To Sowell, Obama took another giant step toward seizing dictatorial power. There’s absolutely nothing new about this crackpot charge. It’s been an absolute smash favorite of fringe GOP Congresspersons, Tea Party acolytes, Fox News and the menagerie of right-side talk show gabbers for two years. The Obama-as-Hitler idiocy is more than just the ancient and stock GOP tactic of smearing, slandering, namecalling, character assassinating, and baiting liberal and moderate Democrats. The tactic is used to prick primitive passions. It allows the GOP to duck and dodge, making a coherent case for its untenable, and more often than not, foolish positions on issues. No, the Hitler smear is coldly calculated and strategically trotted out when Obama introduces a major piece of legislation, new policy initiative or in his pre-White House days when his groundbreaking autobiography rocket launched him as a serious contender for the Democratic Presidential nomination. The Hitler card is played even more furiously when it appears Obama is near victory on legislation or an initiative.
Consider the Timing
The healthcare and financial reform bills, and the BP escrow fund are textbook examples. Each had wide popular support, and GOP opposition to them appeared even more shrill, isolated and vapid.
The Obama-to-Hitler card is also played opposite the Obama-as-Bolshevik analogy. This imprints the image of a power mad Obama out to turn government into an instrument of state control of industry and by extension to squash personal freedoms and liberties. The Hitler comparison imprints the image of a diabolical Obama out to snatch full dictatorial control of government.
Palin grabbed at Sowell’s hit piece to jump on the Hitler bandwagon. She didn’t have to explain how or why Obama’s urging of BP to set up the Gulf damage fund was Hitlerlike. But she didn’t have to explain the absurd. She knows that legions already have mindlessly swallowed the Hitler image of Obama. Expect more Obama-as-Hitler digs the next time the White House stands poised to score another victory.
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
