Writers argue that anger at president is U.S. tradition
Two pieces from reasononline.com argue that being angry at a president is an American tradition. (See previous posting, “Is anger at Obama based on his race?”)
Steve Chapman reminds us of some of the hateful accusations that occurred when George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were elected. And, they weren’t the only ones.
“What Obama may not have recognized before he arrived in the White House is that hating presidents is an irrepressible American tradition. The haters hung George Washington in effigy. They called Abraham Lincoln a dictator. They said Franklin Roosevelt was a Bolshevik,” Chapman writes.
“Dwight Eisenhower’s enemies suggested he was a ‘conscious, dedicated agent of the Communist conspiracy.’ Shortly before John Kennedy arrived in Dallas in November 1963, where he was assassinated, an ad ran in the local newspaper with his picture over the legend, ‘Wanted for Treason.’”
David Harsanyi writes in the column, “Why can’t we all just get along? There’s nothing racist about opposing the president”:
“It’s true that things haven’t been going smoothly for Change. And increasingly, we hear that anyone who opposes Obama too vociferously is hampered by the thought of a black man as the president of the United States. Conservatives, it seems, never have opposed a president before.”
I think both of these writers make good points. However, should we let race-baiting pass, such as when the tea party organizer Mark Williams called Obama a “welfare thug” or when Rush Limbaugh calls the beating of a white kid by two black kids on a Belleville school bus “Obama’s America” or when a S. Carolina GOP activist says an escaped gorilla is one of Michelle Obama’s ancestors?
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Jean is projects editor at the Post-Dispatch. She is a member of Bridges Across Racial Polarization, a group devoted to creating friendships and fostering communication among racial and cultural groups in the community. After growing up in a small town in Kansas, she lived in Kansas City and Wilmington, Del., before moving to St. Louis in 2004. She and her husband, Dan Wiggs, live in University City. 
Mrs. Buchanan,
I think you are leaving out a few race-baiting examples:
* Obama calling the white police officer who arrested Mr. Gates “stupid”.
* Horrigan and RJ Matsen calling anyone who commented on the Belleville school bus beating “KKK” members.
* The many liberal posters on this blog that call us conservatives racist just because we have a disagreement with Mr. Obama’s policies, citizenship status, and decision making ability.
Now let’s review your examples:
1. Obama is a welfare thug. He wants more and more welfare to keep more and more people poor so he can push through his social programs.
2. Limbaugh was right in a way. In an America where a white kid can be beat up by two black kids and nobody mentions race as a possible motivation, you have to wonder if we reached a new era of color-blindness or a continuation of the double standard. What do you think you would be posting if the races were reversed in that incident?
3. Don’t have the full context of your reference to the gorilla, but in a way that unnamed activist is correct — although that gorilla represents the ancestors of all of us, right?
Wow, someone actually said that an escaped gorilla is one of Mrs. Obama’s ancestors?! Not knowing the context of the remark, offhand I can say that not only was it vile and hateful, but also quite literally ignorant. The conservative propensity for disbelieving in evolution aside, thinking people know that humans didn’t come from gorillas, but rather that humans and gorillas have a common ancestor.
Oh, my my… more kookiness from a P-D blogger.
Guess you missed the Newsweek article “Is Your Baby Racist?” that Limbaugh was lampooning
… and what of Liberal icon Maureen Dowd’s fictitious quote of Joe Wilson, “You lie, boy!”
… anything about the racially incendiary Jeremiah Wright — you know… 20-year preacher to B.O.
… How ‘bout The Green Czar Van Jones?? He’s got a raft load of racially inappropriate gems…
… all of which you seem to inconveniently overlook??
If conservatives could call anyone against war unpatriotic, they shouldn’t get upset when they are called racist for opposing everything Obama related.
“If conservatives could call anyone against war unpatriotic, they shouldn’t get upset when they are called racist for opposing everything Obama related.
— MoDuke ”
Yeah, whats good for one party is good for the other, right?
And since I never called anti-war idiots “unpatriotic”, I cant be called a racist for opposing Obama, correct? If not, I still have the absolution from D– on racist Obama critisism.
Why would anyone insult a gorilla? Thats just wrong!
LOL taxpayer…
No, we should not let raise-baiting pass, even though it has in the past when various white men were President of the United States. The problem is that, with the exception of the SC kook and their ilk, most of the commentary, problems, anger, and disappointment being cast Obama’s way is NOT racially motivated. Yet that is precisely what the left and their press machine keep pumping out, in a vain attempt to silence the legitimate beefs people have at this time. And it is wholly comical how badly it is backfiring on them too by the way…
No, my Latin friend, you call us idiots.
And Rush with his pet poodle Glenn Beck call health care reform reparations for slavery. That is racism. I hope your party becomes as dead as your language. De sooner, dei bedder.