Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Obama & murder-minded far right crazies


I believe Barack Obama should start wearing a stove pipe hat and an ear-to-ear chin strap beard. I believe he should start lookin’ like Lincoln.

I’m hopeful that sartorial little conceit will be sufficient to cause the heads of virulent Obama haters to simultaneously explode.

And wouldn’t that be cool?

Far right Republicans believe they are so superior to the rest of us. They know President Obama is a closet Muslim socialist. They know he was born in Kenya. They know he’s trying to indoctrinate our innocents with his little “Just Say No” speeches to captive classrooms.

All I know is this: When it comes to hatred, they are far superior to me.

I thought I hated George Bush. I hated that he did nothing to reach out to the 50.1 percent of the country that voted for Al Gore in a disputed election. I hated that he chose to run the country by color-coded fear charts after 9/11. And I hated that he goaded the country into a long and costly war for make-believe reasons that still cannot be fathomed.

I now understand I’m a piker when it comes to hatred.

I’ve never seen such a bloodlust loosed on the country where so many people, including many with conservative media megaphones, are cheerleading the craziest, most well-armed people among us to take what they consider patriotic action to save the country.

It’s like America has become Rock Ridge in “Blazing Saddles” with President Obama playing the Cleavon Little character.

They carry guns to his speeches. They wear T-shirts boasting about the need to soak the ground with the blood of tyrants.

God help us.

Now the media are finally getting around to asking out loud, gee, could it be, gadzooks, motivated by racism?

Why, of course it is.

I believe the crazies who hate him, fear him -- and they should. They fear him because if he succeeds he will leave an indelible and inspiring example to generations of children, white and black, who will vote in ways that will forever banish the far right to the redneck backwoods of national politics.

It’s understandable. If Republicans had maybe a single charismatic and eloquent minority candidate for national office capable of reaching out to all voters, I’d feel the same way.

Of course, for that to happen, the Republicans will first need to find a maybe a single minority voter to support the ticket.

If I was a mainstream Republican, I’d be dismayed that my party has lurched so far and so violently to the right.

But that is where the dark, bitter soul of the once Grand Ol’ Party today resides. It is the racist face of a party of hatred that convinces people like me that a majority of their supporters would be thrilled to see our minority president dead.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through life consumed by such blind hatred. It must be dismal.

I wish I could help them. I wish I could tell them that politics is a pendulum. I wish I could convince them that the doomsday scenarios that conservatives going back to American movement founder Gen. Benedict Arnold clear through government-hater Tim McVeigh have been dead wrong.

But I don’t have the eloquence or platform to perform that feat.

So I’d just like to promote things that’ll help their heads explode.

I think dressing Obama like Lincoln would do it. Of course, dressing like Pat Sajak might do it, too.

Simple provocations ("He’s comin’ for your guns then he’s comin’ for your women!") ought to be enough to raise the blood pressure of these haters to self-lethal levels.

We could convene groups of fair-minded citizens to determine which of the worst of the far right crazies should be marked for full and final treatment.

At last, a true death panel I can support.

4 comments:

Bruce Coltin said...

I'm hoping the Republicans win some House and Senate seats, and a few governorships. Why? Because they badly need to develope some senior statesmen who can lead the party in a responsible direction. Do you think that's nuts?

Chris Rodell said...

Not at all, Bruce. I think there's no grown ups in the GOP right now. Everyone's thinking the Dems will lose seats in 2010. Way too early to tell, but I don't think so. I don't know any Obama voters who are ready to bail on him, especially with the alternative.

I just hope the talk of violence is somehow tempered. I don't see that happening, though.

Analisa said...

I am a pretty conservative person, still a Democrat. I hate the hate. I didn't like it with Bush I don't like it with Obama. It brings such shame to the nation when we lose our ability to disagree with grace. Why must we lower ourselves to shouting and name calling? It is a sad state of affairs when we no longer respect the Office of the President no matter who is holding it.

Chris Rodell said...

Bravo, Analisa. You said it better and more concisely than I ever could have. Thanks. We have to have faith that things will get better -- and I believe they will. The trajectory of race relations in America took a giant leap forward with the election of Obama. I believe the bitter displays of outright racism will only help to isolate that loathsome sort of behavior. Thanks again for your thoughtful comment.