Hating Obama
By Max J. Castro
majcastro@gmail.com
The other day I was heading home on US 1 when I noticed some none-too-subtle political messages prominently displayed on the tail end of a Jeep. This was no bumper sticker. The main bit of provocative propaganda was a huge caricature of Barack Obama. The depiction’s translation into words: Obama is Satan. Just below the Mephistophelian portrait, it read “COMMUNIST.” Elsewhere on the rear of the gas guzzler, another single word appeared in letters big enough for the near-blind to read: “MORON.”
I wish I could say that my reaction was to take it all in coolly, proceed home and, like a proper, academic social scientist, sit in my chair to calmly mull over the multitude of rich sociological and political readings of what I had just observed. What I actually did, my blood boiling, was to try to catch up to the car and exercise the same First Amendment right that protected the mobile hate machine. To give the car occupants a nasty piece of my mind is what I intended to do.
Alas, the offending driver was too far ahead and the rush-hour traffic impossible to navigate. By the time I turned onto the avenue that led to my house, my blood temperature had descended below 212F/100C. I amused myself with the thought that this might be the only time in Miami history that gridlock prevented someone from doing something stupid. Someone with such vitriol in their hearts would only have his/her beliefs reinforced by a guy with a goatee yelling hostile things at them. Worse, folks like these often carry arms, and in Wild West Florida the “stand-your-ground” law gives gun owners wide latitude to use their weapons whenever they perceive a threat.
Fortunately, I was saved by a red light to live and think and write another day. Reflection raised may questions and provoked conjectures about the individual(s) responsible for the rolling Obama hatred billboard. Do they really believe that Obama, graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School where he served as editor of the prestigious law review, is mentally challenged? Maybe – hatred blinds and absolute hatred blinds absolutely.
The temerity of these people calling Obama a moron reminds me of a joke my late father used to tell. A legislator in the old Cuban Republic’s legislature tried to needle a crafty old operator by asking if his lapel pin represented an ass (donkey). “No,” retorted the old dog, “it’s a mirror.”
And where have these name callers been the last thirty years when psychology and psychiatry were banishing terms such as moron, idiot, and imbecile from their lexicon? Right here, I bet. They just shrugged off such changes as mere political correctness.
Obama as Satan is really funny. With the exception of Jimmy Carter, there hasn’t been such a Boy Scout in the White House in decades.
Even more absurd is the charge that Obama is a COMMUNIST. The man only saved Wall Street and the auto industry with mountains of money. The government did not get one lousy stock in return. That Obama is a Red alright.
But the main thing the car with the venomous backside brought home with a vengeance is the unprecedented importance that the R² factor is likely to play in this year’s presidential election. By the R² factor I mean the sum of rage and racism raised to the second power. It is reflected in the virulence of the iconography and text on the Jeep. It’s what drives the Tea Party’s virtually pathological abhorrence of the president. It gives the Secret Service fits. It may be the most dangerous force in America.
Obamahate is not a majority sentiment in the country but neither is it the exclusive province of right-wing radio demagogues or the lunatic fringe. It is present in the halls of Congress, executive suites, posh golf clubs, and backyard barbecues. Google “Obama” and “hate” and you get 223,000 entries. Just one of those 223,000 web sites contains an astounding 34,500 hate images like the one on the Jeep.
Republicans long have benefitted from the R² factor. It is no coincidence that the Deep South, the most racist region in the country, is also the most solidly Republican. But this time it’s different. The R² factor has soared during the last four years. The election of any black to the presidency would have enraged dyed-in-the-wool racists. But the election of this particular black president – superbly educated, brilliant public speaker, and family man – has discomfited an especially wide sector of whites by shattering every stereotype used to justify racial oppression. And, hey, he can also sing and dance better than you can. Obama has shaken many white people’s comfort in knowing that they will always have someone to look down on. And they hate him for it.
No doubt this animus will register at the ballot box – and hopefully only there. Whether it will be enough to propel to the presidency the plastic prototype of a real person running against Obama is anybody’s guess. What is certain is that the haters are playing with fire, and we better pour water on their matches before we all burn.
