Shannon Whitley

Since Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400%.  The Secret Service is struggling to protect our president, and after only being in office for eight months, I’m struggling to see what he’s done to elicit such a strong reaction.  What evil has this man wrought to bring down such hatred?

When it comes to ideologies, I don’t really count myself in one camp or the other, but I understand many of the concerns expressed by conservative leaders.  Having said that, why is Obama, above all of the other democratic presidents, targeted with such hostility?  Why now are so many people screaming so loudly about Socialism and Communism as if we were in the throes of McCarthyism?

“Racism” is a term that I take very seriously.  I know the weight that this one word can carry, and I understand the results of using it irresponsibly.  “Crying Wolf” would be detrimental to my own beliefs.  I do not, however, hesitate to point out racist acts when the situation calls for it.  Racism is still very much alive in America, and I think it’s very dangerous to think otherwise.

In the case of the furor that erupted over Obama’s speech to school children, I was shocked and dismayed by the reaction of many of the parents.  I believe that many of those parents who would pull their kids out of school rather than hear Obama speak were motivated by racism.  They may argue about concerns over “political indoctrination.”  They can say that they are exercising their rights to disagree with the president, but I simply don’t buy it.  Many of those parents were angry, seething mad, almost as if the school had invited a criminal to address the student body.  No matter how much you disagree with a politician, I just don’t see how the reaction was justified.  Why does Obama scare these people so much?

In retrospect, we now know that the speech was completely apolitical and positive.  So what was the problem?  Why were so many people angry about the speech.  Why is so much “hate” aimed at Barack Obama.  He’s the president of our country; what has he done to deserve this disrespect? 

There have been a number of negative assumptions about Obama’s plans for America.  I’m trying to determine how disagreement over ideas has turned into hatred toward a man:

Barack Obama wants to forcibly take away our money and give it to the poor.  He does talk a lot about “sharing.”  I get uncomfortable with this too.  I’ve worked hard for my money and I want to keep it.  Usually, Obama talks about this in terms of the redistribution only affecting the “very wealthy.”  While that can mean many things, it may not directly impact most of us.  Still, I can see disagreeing with him on this, but he hasn’t stolen anyone’s earnings or redistributed your wealth.  Where is the reason for hate?

Barack Obama wants to take away our health care and force us into a national system.  I watched his speech the other night.  He specifically said that we can keep our current health care if we’re happy with our plan.  Now, the argument could be that there will be a snowball effect and employers will dump us into the national system anyway.  That’s a legitimate concern, and one that we should raise to our representatives.  I’m still not seeing how that is hate-worthy though.

So why do some people really hate Obama?  Why do they fear his speaking at their child’s school?  Why are they so afraid of his presence that they will take extreme action and remove their child completely?  The answer is very clear to me:  “Obama is different.  His skin is dark.  I don’t trust him.”  If you doubt this, think about a hypothetical speech on that same day given by Joe Biden.  Do you think anyone would have balked for one second at that speech?  Do you think any type of brouhaha would have developed if Smilin’ Joe came to town?  It’s racism, plain and simple.  Obama scares people because he is perceived as being different.  He’s not a white guy (well, he’s only half-a white guy).  So the fear festers until people find a socially acceptable way to express it.  “Okay, I don’t hate him because he’s black.  I hate him because he’s a socialist.”   

The question is now, will we deal with our collective racism, or hide behind calls for better discourse.  I believe we need to confront racism.  We can’t use words like “socialism,” “communism,” or “political differences” and act like those are the real problems that many people have with Obama.  And we can’t call people “superior liberals” (no less an attempt at an end-game) to change the discussion points.  We have a big problem.  Our president is at risk and we need to work together to squelch the hate.  We can all disagree, but there comes a time when you need to call people on the motivations behind their disagreements.  Many people are legitimately angry and fearful based on political grounds and I don’t discount their beliefs, but too many other people are using political ideology to mask a more deep-seated illness that is making our country a dangerous place for our president.