The Left Wants Obama to be Hated
by Warner Todd Huston (8/17/09)
Charles Coop, a blogger for CBS News, has returned from a much too short vacation and has chimed in with another prosaic opinion(1) that has been making the rounds of the extreme left of late. Republicans and shadowy, behind the scenes right wing activists are ginning up “Baracknophobia,” Coop says. They are making hate for Obama the issue, not any actual discussion of his policies.
Of course, this is precisely what the left wants to be the case. They want Obama to become a personal object of hatred. The American left does not want any discussion about the issues because that would mean being forced to defend them. Easier to just brush off any opposition as that of hatemongers and lunatics. Leftists like Coop would rather see Obama placed in the dangerous position of being an object of hate as opposed to a leader of opposed views because it is much easier for them to take on the right with this as their background reasoning.
But what are the right leaning critics of Obama saying that would lead a lefty like Coop to conclude that personal animus is the argument against Obama? To find out we need a case to study to compare today’s political climate to. So, let us go back to the Clinton years (with a shudder, of course). Remember what was said of Bubba? Now if you want personal animus, try remembering what Bill was called. Among some of the most common epithets hurled at Bill Clinton were rapist, murderer, the prevaricator in chief, draft dodger. Those are personal attacks, not policy differences, for sure.
Now what is the worst that is hurled at Obama? That he’s a socialist? That he’s actually a Kenyan and not a natural born American? What sort of wimpy personal attacks are those? And be sure to notice that “socialist” is directed at his policies, not him. Even the claim that he isn’t an American doesn’t draw any disparaging conclusions about his actual heritage. Even if people believe he is a Kenyan and not an American there is no following conclusion that Kenyans are inherently bad.
About the worst being said about Obama is that he’s arrogant, a secret Muslim and a liar. As far as liar goes, that goes right back to his policies and the fact that he says one thing but all too often does the opposite. When it comes to arrogant, what politician isn’t called arrogant? Arrogant is hardly reserved for President Obama. And if Muslim is the worst epithet Coop can imagine, then he does not get out much.
In reality, nearly all of the criticism against Obama coming from the American right is based on his policies, the issues, his substance (or lack thereof). There is little talk of the man himself. No one hates him because he’s tall, has big ears or—gasp—is black. There is little hatred for the man as a human being. In fact few doubt that he seems pretty likable. In truth, opposition to Obama is nearly all based on policy differences.
Are there people that actually hate Barack the man? Undoubtedly. But those voices are not the ones leading the debate. Additionally, those voices aren’t even in very large numbers anywhere in the country. As I said, Bill Clinton got more personal hatred cast his way than Barack Hussein Obama has received.
Yet to extremists on the left like Coop, it has to be hate, not policy that drives people away from The One. Folks like Coop are so enamored of Obama that they cannot even imagine that any one could have a difference of opinion with the Obammessiah. So, it has to be hatred, don’t you know?
But it goes even further than just their sycophancy for Obama. You see, the left can’t abide by a right that is arguing policy. They want a right that is Nazi-like, virulent, hateful. Those things can be easily dismissed thereby puffing up their sense of superiority. Not to mention that hacks like Coop are incapable of actually debating anything any way.
So, lefties like Coop want President Obama to be hated on a personal level. If Obama was hated, it would sure make the left’s job easier. There wouldn’t have to be any of that messy debate and justification of their positions to contend with. So, “Baracknophobia” it is.
The left would rather have Obama hated than be forced to defend his policies.
Warner Todd Huston
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