Tiller as preview of radical right attempts to pre-emptively sanction Obama's assassination

SUNDAY OPINION: "The Obama Haters' Silent Enablers," by Frank Rich, New York Times, 14 June 2009.

I think what Rich is doing here is sounding the alarm on what may inevitably be attempted vis-à-vis the President.

Remember: before Oswald got Kennedy, the climate was clearly encouraged by all manner of right-wing groups.

Remember: as Rich notes, how McCain had to step forward and chill his own supporters when they'd yell out "traitor" and "terrorist" when Obama's name was invoked.

As a rule, I find Rich hard to take, but not here. I think he's doing a very good thing.

I don't want to wait until the attempts are made to denounce this sort of stuff, like John Voigt's creepy public call to end the run of this "false prophet" or Glenn Becks' persistent comparisons of Obama to Hitler over abortion.

Comments

[Brad Barbaza]

I agree that this stuff has to be squashed whenever it shows it's head, but I still don't see "Obama hate" anywhere near the level it was during Bush.

While many try to blame the "Right" for JFK, Oswald was a communist trying to make a name for himself. Likewise with Sara Jane Moore's attempt on Gerald Ford. She was reacting to "the government declaring war on the Left." That history plus the hatred directed at Bush (even novels about assassinating him) I really thought Bush was a goner.

Either way, I agree with you that now is the time to be discussing this rather than after the fact, God forbid.

[Tom Barnett]

The instrument of destruction is meaningless in terms of ideological bent.

What disturbs me more is the climate. People opposed Bush, but in a political sense. There was no talk of him being the "anti-Christ" or being a "traitor" or being a "false prophet." He was deeply disliked but hardly hated as a threat to America.

You don't kill political opponents in America, but you do kill traitors and false prophets and threats to Christian rule.

And that's a big distinction.

Kennedy was pre-approved for assassination because of his faith. Bush was never in any such danger, given his faith.

Obama is being purposefully misclassified, so to speak, and that's scary.

[Hank]

While I agree with both you and Frank Rich that we need to be fearful; I also understand that our nation has a rich history of passionate speech and writings, a trip through time will highlight the harsh feelings which were held by their opponents about Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and FDR.

[Brad Barbaza]

We must each be hearing outrages as they are selectively shared with us. I can find dozens of instances where Bush was called a traitor, war criminal and Nazi. A majority of it was personal hatred from the moment he was "selected not elected". People accused him of having the blood of 3,000 American soldiers and countless Iraqis and Afghans on his hands. And that blood justified his destruction. Novels, plays and even a video game featured the killing of Bush. A lot of this tip toed around the mainstream, but I'm sure you could have missed it as you're more likely to immerse yourself in more thoughtful dialogue from that side of the debate.

Likewise, I am very much exposed to a whole range of conservative thought (admittedly, not Beck or Voigt) and never come across the term "traitor" or "anti-Christ" unless it's from a stray post on a forum or something. I have to admit that a quick Google search confirmed that it's out there and I'm disgusted by it. What's probably happening is that neither of us are exposed to the worst stuff happening on "our side" but are shown examples of the other going non-linear.

That said, I'm still not convinced that the rhetoric from the Right Wing was a motivator for the Communist Oswald. But that debate has been going on for four decades and is likely to continue.

[zenpundit]

"What disturbs me more is the climate. People opposed Bush, but in a political sense. There was no talk of him being the "anti-Christ" or being a "traitor" or being a "false prophet." He was deeply disliked but hardly hated as a threat to America."

I have to disagree with you Tom. The Left was exceptionally venemous toward Bush with "war criminal" and "Hitler" being commonly used abuse ( and still are) on mainstream liberal boards, to say nothing of the real wingnut territory like Democratic Underground ( there they postulated Bush-Cheney as launching a coup d'etat). It was a personal, visceral, hatred, much like with Richard Nixon rather than the political animosity expressed toward Reagan or Bush the Elder.

What disturbs me, is that I now see the same liberal Listservs and sites starting to use "BushObama", virulently attacking CNAS and so on, ramping up the destructive rhetoric even though Obama is a moderate-progressive Democrat. It isn't there yet, but give it six months or a year and it will reach the same fever pitch as the far Right, just using different terminology.