The State of Denial Has Zero Electoral Votes -- But It Seems to Be Winning

The Right Wing purveyors of hatred, fear, and anger have adopted a new strategy. Unfortunately, it seems to be working as well as their old one.

Until now, they have focused on spreading lies and distortions about President Obama. He is a socialist and a Nazi (an interesting combination) wants to kill granny. He wants to ruin our wonderful health care system -- which is working well for virtually no one under the age of 65. He wants to run up trillions in debt -- but Bush already did that. He wants to take away all our freedoms and liberties--but Bush already did that. He wants to take away our guns--but he let patriots bring assault weapons to a meeting where he spoke.

You know the drill and the litany. I thought it had gone about as far as it could go. But, as we've all learned, never underestimate the power of racism and hate.

Today we broke new ground. The haters on the Right are now basically saying that the election never happened. Obama didn't really win and he's not really our president. If he was really president, there would be nothing new or controversial about his desire to do a video address to school children regarding how important it is to study hard and stay in school.

George H.W. Bush did the same thing almost 20 years ago. He addressed school children and asked them to help him be a better president and no one complained or even batted an eye. That's because Poppy Bush was a real president and once someone is actually our commander in chief, there's nothing partisan or controversial about him asking anyone and everyone to help him do a better job.

But when Obama asked students to write him letters with advice regarding to how he could do a better job, he received a torrent of abuse from the Right calling it a blatantly partisan act. They are successfully demanding the schools not carry the speech and instructing parents to keep their kids home from school on Tuesday so their young ones will not be damaged by hearing directly from their president.

Ronald Reagan also addressed students before that and actually did try to promote his agenda. He lectured our kids regarding the merits of tax cuts. But you see Reagan was a real president, not a Black guy born in Kenya who never should have been allowed to run in the first place and therefore never really won.

Today, in perfect harmony almost as if they were singing in a choir, Right wing media superheroes Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michelle Malkin blasted Obama for his blatantly partisan effort to "indoctrinate" the minds of our children by talking to them about the importance of education. In unison, they called on all responsible true American parents to keep their kids home from school on Tuesday.

The rest of us Liberal fools are operating under the illusion that we had open and honest election where we were free to work hard for the candidate we preferred. But when elections are over, then the winner is the president of all of us for the next four years. The campaigning is over, the negativity is over, the mudslinging is over. We're all on the same team--particularly in times of war and financial crisis.

But due to his impostor status, Obama's policies are vigorously opposed regardless of his positions. When he alters his stimulus package to include Republican proposals for tax cuts, it's still "Obamanomics" and therefore it's bad. When the stock market goes up 50 percent and is higher six months in a row and three times as many Americans are optimistic about the future compared to a year ago -- that is in spite of Obama, not because of him.

When he adopts 82 Republican amendments to his health care reform plan and waffles on the public option, it's still "Obamacare" and therefore it's bad. Just put his name on it and oppose it. That way the facts don't matter. It's all about discrediting and bringing down the man.

Every president before Obama has had what they call a honeymoon period. It's a time when everyone gives the new guy a chance, pulls in the same direction, and prays that he will succeed. But every president before Obama was not Black.

We should have seen this coming. A year ago when the presidential campaign was nearing its end, issues like Obama's friendship with terrorists and racist ministers were being emphasized by some Republicans. Questions about his place of birth were also being stirred up by the same crowd.

After November it stopped for an instant. He was approved and sworn in as president without dissent. Even the most ardent Conservatives admitted that he was born in Hawaii. We stopped hearing about Bill Ayers and Rashid Khalidi and Reverend Wright. We had a new president and it was time to move on.

But a lot of folks just couldn't seem to shift gears. A few months ago, the Birthers (championed by "newsman" Lou Dobbs) reappeared with no new information but with more energy than ever--more than a year after they first raised the issue and dropped it due to lack of facts or proof.

This week, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer resurrected the names of Ayers, Wright, and Khalidi -- calling them the friends that Obama has learned from -- as he went on to explain (citing no facts of course) why his presidency is already a complete failure.

But this kerfuffle over the speech to students takes things to a new level. Some of us actually believe that Obama is the President of United States. When he asks adults or children to help him be a better president, it is not a partisan act unless you reject the notion that whether you voted for him or not, Obama is the president of all of us and will be for at least 3 1/2 more years.

But apparently in addition to being a socialist, a terrorist, a Kenyan, a Nazi, a granny killer, and like Hitler -- Obama is not even really our president. The whole thing was just a big liberal lie -- a huge mistake. He's just a pseudo-president or someone who wants to be president some day. Otherwise all these charges and concerns are bogus on their face.

Meanwhile, dozens of school districts around the country have succumbed to pressure from Right wing parents and decided that a speech to all American students will not be carried in their schools on Tuesday. If you really believe that Obama is the President of the United States, how do you make that call?

I guess that Rush, Sean, Glenn, and Michelle are the true leaders of our country. Or at least they are able to call the shots in an environment where anger and fear reign and truth, justice, and the American way have become empty words.

The State of Denial (population--millions and growing) has zero electoral votes but it seems to have won the election. Unless, of course, the rest of us demand a recount.

Comments

[SewaneeLeftist]

I came to Mr. Gellman's article weeks after it appeared, but what a good article it is! We, the people who elected our President need to pushback against all the attempts to de-ligitimize our POTUS, and re-establish the power of those electoral votes again in the next round of elections in 2010.

[Dave Scofield]

i'm pretty tired of the "Lunatic Fringe" on the Right. i'm also pretty tired of hearing about their insane diatribes and outright lies about the President. articles like this one may be written in good faith, but in the end, all they accomplish is to spread the Crazies' message of fear and hate far and wide.

to the author: you are giving them exactly what they want by telling us what they are saying.

[rf dude]

Shouting anger at the camera gets ratings - boycott or no.

Did you think reality shows were only about putting your head into a box full of crickets??

Reality IS the ultimate reality show...
--

[LiberalDemIda]

The state of Denial is winning because corporate media are allowing them to. They are framing the message against our President and anyone and anything that supports him.

E.J. Dionne has an excellent piece on how corporate media have gone out of their way to highlight the townhollers -those few and far between - while completing dismissing/ignoring the overwhelming peaceful, intelligent townhalls where people came to ask serious questions.

Case in point: the McCaskill townhall where an elderly man walks up to an AA woman and takes her poster, snatching it from her hands and crumbling it up before tossing it disdainfully aside. The video corporate media ballyhooed showed a big AA woman in the face of a thin, somewhat emaciated white, elderly man.

The truth came out days later, showing how peaceful this woman was sitting and that she had her poster rolled up until a photographer asked to see it. That arrogant white senior citizen crosses the aisle, snatches the poster away and crumbles it up before throwing it aside as if he had that right. To add injury to insult, the arrogant white guy got to sit up front while the AA woman (justifiably infuriated) was led out by no less than four security guards.

This is the footage the corporate media did NOT show. Let's face it. Corporate media is looking out for Corporate America against her citizens and doing everything they can to continue to do so.

[jade7243]

"Meanwhile, dozens of school districts around the country have succumbed to pressure from Right wing parents and decided that a speech to all American students will not be carried in their schools on Tuesday. If you really believe that Obama is the President of the United States, how do you make that call?"

THAT is the question which should be asked of every school superintendent, every school board president and board member, every school chancellor:

Do you believe that Barack Obama is the duly elected legitimate 44th President of the United States of America?

Evcellent post!

[Thabit]

When Progressives spoke out about the actions of the Bush Cheney Administration , we were called and even arrested for being Treasonous . And none of us avocated Bushes or Cheneys death, just their removal . Meanwhile CONservatives are actively avocating Obama's death . Its time to take the threats seriously and lets start filling jails . One murdered president in a hundred years is one too many

[booker52]

Loved this op/ed. It speaks the truth, something that those who talk hate don't want to hear or even speak.

[Jimboy17]

We all need to call this intolerance what it is, pure and simple. It is racism and bigotry of the worst order, and this knee-jerk reactionism must be opposed vigorously in all of its forms. The non-issues that are being drummed up by a media starved for attention and whipped into shape like so much fantasy dream whip must be fought. Why is it that adultery and theft get a pass, but questioning the integrity of an administration noted for its flaunting of international convention and the constitution gets one censured?

[benjaminblue]

The media, beholden to corporate interests, is complicit in the discrediting of President Obama. The media now feels compelled to report every objection to the President's policies, implying in the process that the opinions of the very vocal few represent a majority view.

Unfortunately, the objections to Mr. Bush's inane, immoral, illegal activities was never given a similar platform, even though far more people understood and objected to Mr. Bush's abuse of the office he usurped. Those who raised questions or wanted serious discussion of Mr. Bush's policies were quickly silenced by the media. They were dismissed as "unpatriotic," as members of the media regularly ignored or cast aspersions on those who would dare to inquire, let alone demand appropriate explanations or censures.

Thus, as recently as this morning, the absurd David Gregory could state, straight-faced, that Van Jones' suggestions that Mr. Bush seemed, at times, like an alcoholic or that he failed to act on information to prevent 9/11-- thoughts that many Americans share and thoughs that have more than a bit of credibility -- were "beyond the pale."

What truly is beyond the pale is that "journalists" such as David Gregory merely parrot talking points and present their biases while pretending to give accurate news. But Mr. Gregory, like Mr. Bush, will never apologize for his irresponsible acts, and the media will continue to shape the news to fit personal and corporate agenda dictates, the truth be damned.

[jmpurser]

So the right is getting louder and shriller and everyone saw that coming. The surprise for me has been Obama kneecapping the left so viciously there's no one left to stand up for him.

This is going to be a really ugly 4 years and it may well get worse after that.

[colorao46]

I am a light skinned Hispanic who resides in a State that is pedominately, white and rural.
If I don't speak, I could be perceived as an American of Western European background. If could audio-tape what I hear, it would make you cry. It is depressing! You can disagree with whatever you want to disagree with, but many members of the GOP, are playing a very dangerous game, of race-bating, and subterfuge, with their words, of socialist, elitiist, etc. This kind of rhetoric, plays for a while, but not for a long time. It hasn't worked in the past and it won't work now.

[Horus45]

I agree, this intensity cannot go on for much longer without a major debacle.

[NeoLiberal]

I have to agree with others on this post.

I don't believe there is enough evidence to tie a racist agenda to this problem.

It appears that it is more of an ideological one that uses covert references and innuendo to cast a wider swathe across the GOP's base.

Besides, in spite of all the vocal right-wing opposition, I've yet to hear THEIR plan.

Oh, that's right, they don't have one. They would rather let time go by and bequeath this simmering problem to my and subsequent generations: how to take care of 70 million babyboomers when they're 80 years old, and who's going to pay for it, since these 70 million DIDN'T save nearly enough money to anticipate the exponential increases in health care costs that have materialized over the last 20 years.

Hmm.

[customgreen]

Heaven forbid that a sitting President should ask school children to study harder, respect their parents and teachers and be better citizens. What kind of Commie propaganda is that? Seems to me that I remember President Kennedy wanted kids to excersize more. Presidents council on physical fitness? Obama will talk to the kids, the kids will get a positive message and the nutty a-hole parents that pull their kids out of school will continue their slow slide. The earth will not end because a President gives a talk to kids.

[sociocanuck]

I am increasingly skeptical that everything can be neatly explained away by racism. I've seen it, heard it, and read it; but I don't believe that even every single one of the nutjobs who've polluted the opposition message are all racially charged. Most are. The issue is that they're far more vocal than the rational opposition.

I still disagree with opposition that manages to boil down to ideology, even if it is reasoned and calm about it; but at least it is reasoned and calm. That's far more than you can say for those who are motivated by lies and mostly-deliberate misconceptions.

Even so, it's not all about race. Really.

[Larry Gellman]

I don't think it's ALL about race either. But I do think the hateful tone and substance of the commentary--for no apparent logical reason--has an enabling effect on people when it comes to giving in to their worst instincts. It's hard to be civil. It takes a lot of work and being part of society that doesn't tolerate outward expressions of racism and bigotry is a big deal. When suddenly those kinds of expressions are endorsed by Congressional leaders, media stars with a following, and emailers who are friends, it opens the door to a lot of bad stuff.

[anachoret]

I think that race is a trait that is associated with urban culture, and urban culture is the enemy of "real" America in what they see as the "Culture War," which is what spawns all these retro-movements, like the birthers and the tea baggers. There is a belief that in America there is only one true culture, supporting all of the American civilization, which they believe they are defending from the forces of "multiculturalism." Multiculturalism, being everything except the one true culture, means it's them against the whole world... So they react like this every time something displaying cultural traits they identify with "the enemy" threatens to enter their community.

[Bluesue]

There's one brave school superintendent - Elliot Landon, Superintendent of Schools, Westport, Connecticut

Students in Westport public schools will be able to see and hear President Obama’s address to the nation’s schoolchildren on Tuesday, according to Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon.

In an e-mail message to parents today, Landon said he was “pleased that the President of the United States will be taking time from his busy schedule to deliver this important message to our students.”

“I have instructed our building principals and classroom teachers at all school levels that I am fully supportive of having them integrate the message of the President of the United States into their lessons on Tuesday, or on any subsequent date,” Landon said.

“Toward this end, we will be televising President Obama’s speech, video streaming it, or recording it on DVDs for teacher use.

http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v2/comments/24744/

I think this absolutely crazy response has to be very hurtful to the President. The Republican Congress members are complicit in turning this into something sinister either by their failure to condemn it or their actual support of the craziness.