I really mean “survive”, in the physical, literal sense of the word. I cannot think of any other recent president in greater danger of being assassinated. Recently, I had the opportunity to discuss aspects of Obama’s policies with some self-described conservatives from Tennessee, the state that wants you to carry a gun while drinking in a bar. Fortunately, those discussions took place on Facebook, so I had no reason to fear that one of the other participants might choose to end the conversation violently.
The subject of conversation were Obama’s economic policies, mainly the stimulus package and health care reform. None of the social issues that are usually red meat for the right-wingers were touched upon, not even the appointment to the Supreme Court of Sottomayor. And yet, the level of pure, visceral hatred towards Obama displayed by these people was mind-boggling. This is way beyond political disagreement. To these people, Obama is devil incarnate; they call him, at various times, “the Kenyan”, a “closet Muslim” or worse. They believe he is out to deliberately destroy the USA as they understand it and turn it into a communist country, or worse, an Islamist-Communist country…
Sure, progressives also despised GWB. But progressives are generally non-violent (the main reason for despising Bush was the Iraq war, after all).
Now, I am not saying that the specific people with whom I communicated on Facebook are going to grab their weapons and head for Washington DC tomorrow. But their opinions are representative of those held by the right-wingers who hate Obama with such fervour. Some of those extremists form armed militias, believe that abortion is murder and that therefore it is OK to shoot a doctor who performs abortions, and that the 2nd Amendment was handed down by God to Thomas Jefferson on Mount Rushmore. I am certain that some, right now, holed up somewhere in Idaho or Wyoming or Tennessee, are thinking about their duty to save the USA from “the Kenyan”.
Let’s all hope that the Secret Service does its job well…