Chamblee54

At the 24 minute mark of an online discusssion , the subjects becomes people who are defending BHO online. It seems like in spite of…or maybe because of…the tsunami of Obama bashing in public discourse, that some people are willing to cut the man some slack. PG has seen this with other presidents … the opponents go on and on and on, saying horrible things about the man, until some people hear so much that they begin to sympathize with the POTUS. After all, the man was popular enough to win the election ( or get close enough in the electoral votes to enable the Supreme Court to install him).
PG made a comment, which attracted a reply. A lively discussion of media racism ensued.
1- Maybe Ms. Ms. Soltis can bring her band along and do a singing diavlog. Mr. Scher can dance when it is appropriate. 2- The talk of “liberals” coming to the defense of BHO should not be surprising. The anti-BHO forces have gone for rhetorical overkill since the 2008 campaign. People are getting tired of this, and feeling sympathy for the embattled POTUS. 3- Another factor is the perception that the anti BHO forces are a bunch of right wing body parts. These are frequently very unpleasant people. There is a perception of racism, which leads to point number four. 4- BHO is the first dark skinned POTUS. Many people feel an ethnic kinship with him.
Sulla the Dictator … It seems that it is impossible to critique the President for anything without it being called racism. The commenteriat, longtime allies of the current ruling regime, have become unhinged.
PG has been watching politics for nine presidencies now, going back to Lyndon Johnson. LBJ escalated the war in Vietnam. A hundred men died every week, and the war became very unpopular. The word in the streets was “hey hey LBJ, how many men did you kill today?.” In 1968, he decided not to run for another term in office. The next POTUS was Richard Nixon, and he was the beneficiary of what we will call derangement backlash.
Tricky Dick played hardball. He had enemies, and when they had a chance to get back at him, they did. America wallowed in Watergate for the first twenty months of Mr. Nixon’s second term. After a while, you began to hear people say ” I admire his guts for fighting to stay in office”. As oval office tapes later revealed, the man was guilty as sin, but that didn’t stop him from fighting like a caught thief. Finally, he resigned, and Gerald Ford took over. There were jokes about Mr. Ford, and gossip about his family, but no derangement.
Jimmy Carter was the object of intense criticism, a good bit of it justified. He was followed by Ronald Reagan, who was the master of show business. There was grumbling about him, but the bottom line was that he was a likeable man. George H.W. Bush won a fast, low cost war. There were complaints, and a third party candidate that helped Bill Clinton move into the oval office. The era of presidential derangement was about to begin.
From the minute Bill Clinton moved into the White House, the press trashed him relentlessly. Talk radio was becoming a force, and the likes of Rush Limbaugh competed to see who could outdo who in saying rude things about Mr. and Mrs. Clinton. (The lack of chivalry when talking about Hilary Clinton was astonishing.) This didn’t stop the man from being reelected in a landslide, only to be impeached because of blowjob related issues. After a while, no matter how vocal the denunciations of the President were, there were supporters who just tuned out the haters.
George W. Bush had a quiet beginning to his Presidency, until 911 jumpstarted the war machine. People were appalled by the war in Babylon, and started saying very rude things about Mr. Bush. The phrase “Bush derangement syndrome” entered the conversation. Soon enough, those who supported him and his war began to fight back against all the hysterical criticism.
With BHO, the denunciation of the President has hit a new low. Hardly a day goes by without a new urban legend. While his record in office is certainly open to criticism, one has to wonder if maybe he could have done better with a little cooperation from his enemies.
An added factor with BHO is his dark skin. Millions of americans feel a bond with him because of this. When they hear criticism of the President, they only love him more. While some of the screams of racism are exaggerated, the concern is a legitimate one. Crude jokes about BHO may entertain the Tea Party crowd, but they anger many supporters. The support of BHO grows stronger.
With all Presidents, the matter of simple patriotism should be raised. The man is the elected President of the United States. (Even George W. Bush won the popular vote for reelection.) While legitimate criticism is expected, at some point the over the top POTUS bashing leans dangerously close to treason. People should consider that if the President fails, America fails along with him.
Picture today are from The Library of Congress.