Obama-hate is getting scary

[Algorem]

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/1155179.html

HARRY BRUCE
Sun. Nov 29 - 4:45 AM

...

As Michael Tomasky writes in The New York Review of Books, "This conservative protest movement has three powerful forces supporting it: bottomless amounts of corporate money; an ideologically dedicated press, radio, and cable television apparatus eager to tout its existence; and elected officials who are willing to embrace it publicly and whose votes in support of the movement’s positions can be absolutely relied upon."...

The poisoning of America’s political climate frightens no less seasoned an observer than Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times. It reminds him of the mood in Israel just before the assassination in 1995 of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin...


"Americans have forgotten that Dallas right-wingers bitterly protested President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Dallas; that the presidential motorcade was greeted with signs expressing contempt for JFK; that even as JFK’s limousine came under rifle fire, right-wingers were present taunting him; that even after he was a corpse there were protesters nearby displaying insulting placards. Americans have also forgotten the joy with which right-wingers reacted to the assassination."...



Believe me, it was fear I felt, not a bit of enjoyment, when I read the opinion of Washington journalist Eric Boehlert that the radical right in the U.S., aided by "a Republican Noise Machine that positively dwarfs" what existed when Kennedy was assassinated, "has turned demonizing Obama — making him into a vile object of disgust — into a crusade.


Harry Bruce’s column appears every other week in The NovaScotian.

[Aramchek]

1. sadly, you need look no further than DU if you want to find vast reserves of Obama hate

[lazer47]

2. When you become truly disappointed with someone

that doesn't mean you hate them,, it simply means that you have become disappointed with how they have become...

[rucky]

3. You're making light of a serious threat.

Nobody here is wishing for his death.

[Aramchek]

6. no, they just wish he was never President, and will do everything they can to stop his re-election

do you deny this?

[rucky]

8. Maybe 1 or 2. "Dripping" is an exaggeration. n/t

[lazer47]

9. If he does't live up to his promises the first time,, why would I expect it the second time

[Aramchek]

12. Vote Palin, then. I'm sure she'll live up to hers.

[bos1]

24. He has lived up to MANY promises, in a nearly impossible situation, and is pressing on. that's why.

[Syntheto]

40. Promises are one thing...

...effectiveness is another.... If he's not effective, he's out... and hey, all you frothing at the mouth Obama cult of personality worshipers, just because some people are not peeing on themselves in the ecstasy of Obama worship doesn't mean that they support gasp the Evil Palin.. they're both PEOPLE, NOT GODS OR SPIRITS, they take shits just like anybody else, they wear clothes, they eat, drink, and sleep. Giving them some sort of spiritual power (Good for O, Bad for P) is simplistic and foolish, and some people seem to believe that if you're not with O and us, then your against O and us.... hmmm, that reminds me of something that everyone ridiculed at the time.... hey, let's lighten it up a bit... that was a hugely funny skit on SNL where the Chinese President asked "Obama" for the 800 billion, whatever that they were owed, then asked for a dinner and movie, because it was the polite thing to do when someone was trying to 'do sex' to him, then he bent over to let "Obama" take over. I laughed for hours. I even downloaded it...

[SusanaMontana41]

69. I agree

GeeDub left President Obama with a full plate, and then some.

The damage inflicted on our country by the chimperor and his handlers didn't occur overnight. It won't be fixed overnight, either. Obstructionist Republicans and a handful of recalcitrant Democrats will see to that.

President Obama has been in office for less than a year. I still have hope, and I will be patient.

[zbdent]

20. I doubt that you would have found anybody but a few double-digit/triple-digit posters

calling for Bush43 to die over the years here at DU, but there's a whole cottage industry now built up for people who want Obama to die/be assassinated (not on DU) ...

Case in point: "Psalm 109:8" products ...

Hell, Regnery was pretty much built into an empire under Clinton ...

[Mz Pip]

4. I certainly haven't seen

anything close to resembling the kind of hatred that is depicted in this article. Yes, there are Duers who are disappointed with how things are going but I don't see any calls for coups or dog whistling egging on the deranged who have guns.

Not even close.

[tekisui]

5. Ridiculous.

There are many here who are disappointed with some of his policy decisions. That does not equate to hate, or wish harm on him.

[Aramchek]

7. unless you consider wishing he loses the next election harming him

It would definitely harm this Nation for years to come.

[tekisui]

10. I certainly hope he doesn't lose the next election.

But, I think he is compromising his re-election, on his own.

[noiretextatique]

11. not voting for him is slightly different than wishing him dead

:eyes: hopefully you grasp that. it's the latter kind of hate that poses a threat to obama...to his life. he certainly can't run for re-election if he isn't alive.

[Aramchek]

13. not voting for him may not take his life, but it will assure the deaths of many in the future

if he is not re-elected

What is more important, one man's life, or the lives of millions?

[tekisui]

14. What is he, a savior of mankind?

:rofl:

He is going to save the lives of millions or another president is going to kill millions?

You are out to lunch.

[Aramchek]

15. You doubt that Palin's policies would ensure the deaths of millions

Bush's certainly did.

And yes, Obama's policies will save the lives of millions over the next few generations.

If you cannot see that,
then you suffer from a severe lack of vision.

Presidents change the course of history.
That is a proven fact.

[StreetKnowledge]

50. Many problems with this.

First - Even if many progressives decide NOT to support Obama a second time, that does not automatically give us President Sarah Palin. I think her and her ilk will destroy the GOP from within anyways, because the fanatical wingnuts are all the GOP has left, and moderates see these wingnuts and their leaders - Bachmann, Beck, Inhofe, Limbaugh, Brown, et cetera - as revolting examples of political stupidity. Her and the GOP nutcases like her will not get elected, because they revolt too many people. That's not rocket science.

Secondly - Progressives who have given up the Obama Administration - myself included, admittedly - have done so because we see that he isn't doing things all that differently from Bush. Afghanistan, case in point. He's not being a leader on the health care debate because that debate became about placating the insurance companies right from the start. You are acting like not supporting the President is support the insane right, which isn't true and is insulting to those of us who want to see real change in this country. There is lots of reasons to legitimately oppose Obama on governmental terms, and the right isn't doing that. Their hatred of him is entirely based on racial and religious terms, combined with a helluva lot of seriously hard drugs.

Are the Beck/Limbaugh/Hannity/Savage/O'Reilly - fueled far right wingnuts dangerous? You better believe it. But not supporting Obama does not in any way shape or form bear any resemblance to the insanity of the far-right.

[Syntheto]

16. WTF are you talking about???

That kind of rhetoric makes me puke... He's a friggin' politician, nothing more, nothing less! Millions of people gonna die if he ain't elected next time? Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ, this Obama worship is the scariest thing I've seen in a long time. Either he does the job he got elected for this time around, and gets the electorate's okay for another 4 year term or he's out, and somebody else gets a shot at it. It is up to the electoral process, whether you like it or not. The day somebody starts saying that we don't need any more elections, because Obama has so much left to do and elections are dishonest anyway and a pointless waste of precious time, is the day the barricades go up. You folks who keep pushing this whole cult of personality thing with this guy better get your heads out of wherever it is you're keeping them stuffed to avoid the sun and get real.

HE'S A POLITICIAN... HE'S A HUMAN BEING... IF HE DOES A GOOD JOB, THEN HE'LL GET REELECTED, IF HE DOESN'T GET A DAMNED THING DONE OR IMPROVE ANYTHING, HE WON'T GET REELECTED. THERE ARE NO OTHER ALTERNATIVES.

[Myrina]

18. Best Post of the Day!

:applause:

[PurpleChez]

21. Oh, ditto!

[bos1]

26. A million dead in the Iraq War. Good enough? Another war, another million.

and that's what the right wing wants. Bomb Iran etc

[Syntheto]

39. Last time I looked...

...we were in a war in Afghanistan... duh.

[txaslftist]

73. Not just the right wing.

Lots of folks on the "left" want us to go after Iran, too.

[Aramchek]

34. You don't seem to comprehend the lasting effects of a President

sure he is a Human Being
but he holds the most powerful office on Earth.

He'll get reelected and though you may be too ignorant to thank him for what he does,
your great-grandchildren certainly won't be.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[natrat]

43. i hate them.Rham a total crook. I dont want to see anyone killed though

[Tutankhamun]

17. The criticism of Obama on DU is much different than the hate discussed in the OP.

Edit to add the following caveat: You may wish to skip this post. What I say here has been said already in the thread. I wrote it before reading the responses.

The corporate/Faux News/teabagger/RW hatred has taken on a frightening form of its own. "Obama is a terrorist/Nazi/foreign infiltrator/antichrist, etc." is rhetoric designed to stoke the violent hatred of fringe lunatics and other would-be assassins. It's an atempt to get the president killed and/or prevent the Democratically elected government from functioning, by compelling "brown shirted" mobs to threaten, intimidate, terrorize and eventually attack Democratic leaders.

Fortunately, DUers, as a group see through the hate propaganda.

[Bitwit1234]

23. I don't see hate of Obama I see extreme disappointment

that he has not undertaken more vigorously the things he told us he was going to do, when he was asking for our votes.

[bos1]

25. Extreme? Really? Are you aware of the achievements, the triumphs against all odds?

[billh58]

30. Those don't count

because everyone did not get a pony.

[pauldg0]

35. Listen......

...Obama has passed more bills as a first term President than any other in eighty years.

[TankLV]

27. That is a fucking stupid statement. You prove your ignorance by spewing this nonsense...

[Bluenorthwest]

28. Comments like yours devalue the actual hatred

As do all of you who fling that word about like nerf ball. A vile practice that in fact assists the most dangerous elements by crying wolf at every criticism of policy. Hate is a word of great power and only fools use it without discretion.

[Skittles]

31. BULLSHIT

criticism does not equal HATRED

[Mari333]

63. +1000000000000000

[spiritual_gunfighter]

44. Your dishonesty and comparing

some on DU's problems with Obama's policy decisions to rabid right wing hate and wishing for his assassination is disgusting, you should apologize.

[yurbud]

68. you are confusing policy difference with rabid right wing hate. I want the guy to do the best job

he can.

That's far different from saying he's a Kenyan socialist muslim terrorist fascist.

[hypocrisyandlies]

19. Getting scary?

I think the Obama hate has been scary since before he was even elected. I have been terrified for his life and the lives of his family ever since November 4th.

[billh58]

22. Those on the Far Right

who call for President Obama's removal by violence before the end of his first year in office, and those on the Far Left who have branded him a failure during the same time period, have identical goals: replacing him with another "politician." The only difference between the two fringe groups is the method and time table for "getting rid" of President Obama.

For those more level-headed DU members who are consistent "critics" of President Obama, the rhetoric is less vitriolic than the Far Right and the Far Left, but feeds on the energy of the fanatical fringe. Calling supporters of President Obama "cheerleaders," "worshipers," and, "ignorant followers," is the very same language that Freepers use when describing anyone to the left of Hitler.

Realistically there is no chance of a Rodney King "can't-we-all-just-get-along" moment on DU, but the level of hostility displayed here is self-defeating for the Liberal movement in general, and the Democratic Party in particular. I have the distinct feeling that there are much fewer members who self-identify as "Liberal Democrats," on Democratic Underground, than there was just a few years ago when I first joined. The DLC "Centrists," the "PUMAs for McCain," the "Ron Paul Libertarians," and the "Greenies for Kucinich" combined, appear to be present in equal (or greater) numbers than we Liberal Democrats.

Instead of a bigger tent, maybe we need more tents. I would like to see a new forum on DU for Liberal Democrats who are attempting to re-build our Party, where we can discuss serious issues (both congratulatory AND critical) without being labeled as "Kool-Aid drinkers." And yes, I am a partisan Democrat because in a de-facto two-party system you gots to choose up sides. Thanks for asking.

Peace...

:think:

[JoeyT]

41. Yes, thinking someone is wrong on certain issues is exactly the same thing as wishing them dead.

Jesus Christ, I hope I never cut some of you off in traffic if that's the way you think.
I suspect anyone that equates criticism or hell even outright dislike to violent hatred has never actually seen hate.

"The only difference between the two fringe groups is the method and time table for "getting rid" of President Obama."
How bout their motivation? Most rational adults are capable of understanding shades of gray and how motivation changes the act. There's a huge difference in tackling someone because they're robbing a store and tackling them because they have a necklace you want. It's a damned shame that fact eludes some people. The "With us or against us!!!11" shit is getting old.

Edited to add: I'm glad someone else brought up the Hitler thing. Do some of you not see a parallel in confusing criticism and *real* hate and comparing any policy of a political party with the Holocaust? How doing that actually diminishes the far greater problem?
An example: "Right wingers want to physically kill the man we elected president." "Well that's no worse than the liberals who won't vote for him. They're exactly the same." (The equivalency quite a few of you seem to be making.) Does insolent dissatisfaction honestly look like a bomb threat to some people? Do people honestly think disagreeing with someone is the same as killing them? It boggles the mind.

By the way, I've never met a liberal that wanted the president dead. Not one. And I know some crazy-ass fringe people. Real fringe, not what some people seem to think are fringe. People that make me look like a neo-con. Not one of them wants to see the president dead. Most of them don't even want him out of the White House in an election. They may vote Green or Natural Law or somesuch, but an assassination attempt or impeachment effort would have them howling for Republican blood.

[billh58]

55. There you go

again, putting words in my mouth, like most on the Far Left heard things that President Obama didn't say. Nowhere have I said that the Far Left "hates" President Obama, or that they want him dead. What I DID say was that both the Far Right AND the Far Left want him replaced after less than one year into his first term, and many after only one day. For different reasons for sure, but their desired outcome is the same and only the methods are different.

Selective hearing, and twisting what is written to justify your faux outrage, is the Far Left's stock-in-trade. No one has criticized your criticism of President Obama. You are being criticized for demanding instant gratification, and wanting your pony before Christmas. If you really think that Kucinich can do a better job, wait until 2012 and stop abetting the Republican Teabaggers.

I continually find it strange that those who are the loudest in their criticism of others can not accept ANY criticism of themselves.

[noiretextatique]

58. i am calling bullshit...only the rw wants obama eliminated

the left wants him to do what's right for the people. mandating the purchase of private health insurance is not what's best for the people. neither is escalating the war in afghanistan. nor is continuing the folly of the illegal war in iraq. or extending the patriot act. the rw is the proven enemy of america, yet they continue to have a BIG place at the table, while the left is expected to compromise away...everything. it's sad that you and others equate the core of the democratic party with people like palin, et al, who value nothing.

[billh58]

59. You just can't help

yourself can you? Where did I equate "the core" of the Democratic Party with Palin? Do you sincerely believe that you represent "the core" of the Democratic Party, and not the fringe? What arrogance!

[NJmaverick]

56. Very well said. To bad you can Rec a response, because this one certainly deserves one

:applause:

[ShortnFiery]

29. It's not hatred of Obama, the man, but an INTENSE sense of disappointment due to his

cold, calculating PRAGMATISM which *always* favors THE RICH POLITICAL ELITES who comprise the moneyed banking interest and the Military Industrial Complex.

His behavior or LACK thereof speaks for itself.

HOPE FADES especially for those of us self identified LIBERAL Democrats. :(

[Peacetrain]

32. What in the world has this got to do with you? or any other Democrat?

[natrat]

45. that's it-totally sold out crooks

[certainot]

33. obama supporters as a group will never really get his back until it

begins picketing the radio stations that trash him all day long. since very few of their talkers take real calls the only thing left to do is picket the stations themselves and boycott the local sponsors of the hate and distortion.

i'm not talking about individuals- everyone has different ways of supporting, but progressive groups must recognize that much of the work that their members do can be easily cancelled out by a few loudmouths on giant radio stations.

[Lindsey]

36. He has lived up to MANY of his promises. I'm disgusted...

how so many on DU have turned against him. It makes me sick. The man's been in office for less than a year for God's sake.

[certainot]

60. 'obama's head needs to roll' said limbaugh sept 10, 2008 second hour and maybe

i was the only one who called the local limabaugh station or their sponsors to complain.

a bunch of high paid republican trolls whip them into a frenzy over a few pet issues while the GOP and corporate forces threaten and intimidate their reps all day long from 1000 radio stations without a complaint. when i call the local limbaugh sponsors very few have ever had a complaint before. it's pitiful.

[classysassy]

37. Define hate

is it a very strong dislike which can drive some to harm another person because you dislike his religion or race,well if that defines hate,there are millions of hateful people on this planet?.

[NJmaverick]

42. Obama haters are dark hearted people

so it stands to reason their hatred would lead to some very dark and scary places

[natrat]

47. but the obama lovers are totally blind to the level of corruption concerning very big issues

[NJmaverick]

48. You are defending the Obama haters like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh?????????

what is wrong with you?!?!?!

[StreetKnowledge]

51. Where did you get that from?

I doubt there is a person on this board who doesn't think Beck and Limbaugh are drug-fueled insane crazies. But the other poster is right. There is an immense disconnect in many ways between the Obama Administration's policies and what we elected him to do.

Instead of sending yet more many billions to banks, why doesn't the government clear off the bad ones and pay off those mortgages? Gets them off the bank's back, those people can sleep easier, and the money goes into an asset owned by Americans in America instead of into off-shore bank accounts owned by people who use "American" as a brand name. But the Treasury Secretary and the guys who work with him are all yet more Wall Street guys, who do what Wall Street wants. The corruption there is entirely legal, but it is also pervasive.

[NJmaverick]

52. The term "Obama lovers" is used by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbuagh and their followers

This post was also aimed at the Obama HATERS. So that would be where I got "it" from.


As for for disconnects between what YOU elected Obama to do, that could be true. However you are not the elected spokesperson for WE as Obama is pretty much doing what I elected him to do. In fact he has done more than I thought would be possible.

[StreetKnowledge]

71. I mean no offense, but you must have pretty low standards.

Real Healthcare Reform? Nope, it became a fiasco and then became a giveaway to the insurance companies. Not to mention is has in it an attempt by Congress to overturn Roe v. Wade. This embarassment of health reform legislation is enough for me to say "I ain't voting for you again." I'm going third-party next time.

Out of Iraq? No on that one either.

Strong banking regulation to prevent the meltdown from happening again? No, the corporate whores got their way on that one again.

Don't Ask Don't Tell Gone? Yet again, no.

Progressive on Social Issues? Between the Stupak Amendment, DADT and Duncan's education policies, he's as bad - if not worse - than Bush was. And I CAN say that with a straight face.

We might get small victories, but they are getting big ones, and its them continuing to come out ahead. We chose to have somebody who screws us behind our backs rather than somebody who screws us but tells us he's gonna screw us. If we want conservatives, we'll vote Republican. But the people who elected Obama are progressives, and the progressives have been told dozens of times now to be good soldiers and keep voting Dem while the Dems keep screwing us, just like under Clinton. The sooner we get that mindset out of Obama's head, the better. To hell with the GOP, to hell with the Blue Dogs. YOU WORK FOR US, BARACK.

[bertman]

46. The idiocy of equating criticizing President Obama with "hating" him is mind-boggling.

Apparently the people who feel that Democrats criticizing a Democratic President equals hatred have never considered that maintaining a democratic (little d) form of government requires vigorous debate of the issues by all parties.

I, for one, have no intention of stopping my criticism of the President when I feel he is moving in the wrong direction. Even if he had not told me he WANTED me to do exactly that--which he did-- I would still be doing it.

But, back to the thrust of the OP, yes there is a lot of Obama HATRED out there. And what's scary--especially for those of us who are well-acquainted with the background on President Kennedy's assassination--is that we see that the Secret Service is ignoring its own protocols for protecting the President. This is exactly what happened with Kennedy. It was no accident that Kennedy's security team followed almost none of the rules for protecting him in Dallas. How does that relate to the SS letting two uninvited guests into a State dinner? You tell me.

[ShortnFiery]

49. Excellent Points. eom

[NJmaverick]

54. Only if you don't believe facts matter

[NJmaverick]

53. The ONLY idiocy would be posters equating "This conservative protest movement" with Dems

critizing the President

[bertman]

61. I don't follow your comments, NJmaverick. Please explain. Thanks.

[NJmaverick]

62. Read the original op and then read the response

then you will understand what I am talking about

[certainot]

57. why don't dems get obama's back?

1000 radio stations with their daily hate make the obama hating acceptable in the rest of the media because they are UNCONTESTED.

very few in the left actually call the local station that put the hate mongers on, they are never picketed, and when i call a local sponsor to ask them why they would sponsor the unamerican bullshit and threats and racism and completely irrational global warming denial they usually say i'm the first to complain.

all day long on 1000 radio stations karl rove's invisible 2x4 pounds on obama while the left turns the radio to music and then complains about dem spinelessness and ineffectiveness.

what a joke.

[bertman]

65. We do "get his back". Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the corporate control of the airwaves

that allows this kind of bigoted, hate-filled rhetoric to be spewed over the airwaves. Do you really think that a radio station that carries the Drugster or Beckerhead is going to admit that citizens are calling to complain about those guys? No way. That's why I don't waste my time or my breath.

Case in point, after Beckerhead called President Obama a racist there was so much outcry that he was losing sponsors left and right. Did they take him off the air? Hell no. He's still on there by way of the supportive fascist asshole sponsors who want that kind of hate-speech to be spouted. It's the corporate media. Wake up.

The same folks who are heavily vested in military armaments and supplies are the same ones who own the major networks and radio stations. Can you say "General Electric"?

By the way, this is not new. It's been going on for decades. That's why the 22% of Americans who loved Cheney and Bush can keep seeing and hearing the likes of Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and Beck despite the fact that they represent less than a quarter of the American people.

[certainot]

70. disagree, the left collectively does not get his back where it counts the most

i know those radio stations are usually extensions of the local GOP but i have spoken with station/owners managers who will and do feel the pressure. one manager switched to progressive. one told me he would like to- that was a start.

many of those stations will feel the heat if their local sponsors start pulling out and looking for alternatives. there is no reason for universities to be sponsoring limbaugh but it happens, for example.

re beck- that was a well organized TV boycott- fox is a tick on limbaugh's ass as far as viewers go and most of it's audience is just going there for visual reinforcement of what they already got earlier in the day on radio. fox is a distraction from the real problem and and as long as the left ignores it there can be bipartisanship and no real democracy.

the tragedy is that while it is so effective determining the media flavor of america the left has no clue most of the shit is coming out of their local radio station so they evaluate dem and obama effectiveness in a radio vacuum.

the corporate media you talk about loves the talk radio monopoly that the left as a whole ignores because that's where they start their push and by the time it's noticed by the left it's too late- all their shit gets prechewed on radio first and the republican ownership loves the tax breaks and deregulation and exciting wars it sells.

the print and TV corp media can't create like talk radio can- the last twenty years in particular have been a disaster for this country and it is no coincidence that reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine 20 years ago.

in print and TV even within the established framing there is still some competition. but it is the talk radio monopoly that does the heavy lifting on the repetition, distortion, framing, lying, and swiftboating.

gore and kerry could not have been swiftboated as they were, the elections stolen, the wars lied into, and a deserter fool made into a com in chief if the left hadn't been ignoring talk radio.

[h9socialist]

64. They were close to achieving their goal under Bush

That goal being a truly bourgeois-fascism. They need armies of half-wit Goobers to carry water for them -- thus the Tea Party stuff. Sooner or later we're going to have to confront the fascist right-wing and put them in their place. Please do not lose the Congress!!!

[butterfly77]

66. K&R..

[Firstzar]

67. "Getting" scary???

That fucking boat left the pier MONTHS ago!

[txaslftist]

72. Unquestioning Obama worship also seems to be a problem.

I don't want him shot anymore than anyone else does, but we can't keep handling him with kid gloves, either. When he bails out wall street and escalates the dirty war in Afghanistan, we can't keep silent just because we voted for him.

Like any president, he has to be accountable.