If the people insisting that Obama is a fascist/socialist (as if the terms were synonymous–maybe they’ve heard of “national socialism” and are too ignorant of history to know the difference) had legitimate grievances about the various healthcare proposals on the table, wouldn’t they talk about those, rather than making shit up?
I mean, why invent “provisions” that clearly don’t exist, provisions that have been debunked by multiple credible sources and can easily be seen as fictitious by anyone genuinely interested in determining what is true–unless truth is irrelevant and your only goal is to defeat anything this President proposes?
Which leads me to another observation. A number of “tea baggers” have defended the vitriol coming from the right by pointing to accusations made about George W. Bush by the Left. (I believe this criticism falls into the category of “But Mom, he started it!”) In one sense, that’s fair enough–there were certainly some on the left who were excessive in their language and accusations–although as a friend of mine observed, unlike the rightwingers, they were generally not armed. But there is one telling difference between those who were appalled by GWB and those hurling obscenities at Obama–the criticisms of Bush began AFTER HE’D BEEN IN OFFICE FOR TWO/THREE YEARS. They were based upon actions he took. Many of us who came to believe that he was a disaster for the country (and count me among them) came to that conclusion based upon his actual conduct.
In striking contrast, the hysteria over Obama began even before he took office, and almost none of it has been based upon what he has actually said or done. The justifications have been inventions out of whole cloth. These are not people reacting to measures they disagree with; they are looking for reasons to justify their pre-existing hatred. And the only possible explanation for that is racism.
What we are seeing is what happens when a racist wakes up one morning to find a world in which there is not only a black man (Tiger Woods) who is the best golfer in the world, and a black woman (Oprah) who dominates the entertainment industry, (not to mention women of all colors doing all those jobs that used to be reserved for men) but now, a black man in the White House. What else explains the refrain of people at “town halls” who keep saying “I want my country back”?
Raw bigotry has crawled out from under its usual rocks so we can see it in full display, and it isn’t pretty. Alka-Selzer, anyone?
Sheila, as usual, you explain in very clear terms what is going on in this country. Thank you.
The big lie is easier to sell than the smaller one.