Tolu Olorunda | Posted August 10, 2009 9:15 AM
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This is no time for jokes or trivial banter. The stakes are getting higher by the nanosecond. As tensions are inflamed at health care town hall meetings across the country, a dangerous trend of Hitler comparisons, Stalin comparisons, and all-around dictator comparisons to President Barack Obama is taking shape. The most probing question at this juncture might be uncomfortable to some, but it must be asked: Do conservative, hard-right demagogues, whose hatred for President Obama has hardly ever been subdued, secretly hope for--and are hard at work toward--the assassination of the nation's first Black president.
The sheer thought that a faction of the country's political bloc holds such views might unnerve certain readers, but fear of the probable demands that we face up to the consequences before it's too late.
A couple of days ago, violence broke out at a Tampa, Florida, health care summit at which U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor was speaking. Mob groups, contracted by right-wing organizations, loudly interrupted the Congresswoman as she spoke, causing a scene so volatile that it soon turned violent.
For those who had been following the recent outbursts of verbal chaos at countless Congressional health care-centered town hall meetings, the Tampa incident was but the inevitable culmination of a brewing hostility that had begun bubbling as early as last weekend, when Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, was heckled and berated by reform opponents at a Pennsylvania town hall meeting where she was also joined by Philadelphia Democratic Senator, Arlen Specter.
As further investigation was launched into the events leading up to the Philadelphia scuffle, the truth soon surfaced--the truth that many conservative culture warriors still deny up to this very moment. It was revealed that many questionable right-wing lobbying firms, political organizations, and even health insurance agencies, had contracted mob groups, shuffling them from city to city, to disrupt any sense of decorum at the town hall meetings, commanding them to "stand up and shout," "rock-the-boat," "get all your hands up," and "rattle" the lawmakers. They were prompted to not only disagree with the notion that the current health care system is fundamentally broken, but with the very premise that anything need be done to better the coarse conditions countless citizens are oppressed by; conditions they have no control over, conditions that health insurance companies hate to see changed--for fear of financial loss.
But that wasn't enough. The right-wing radio and TV commentators, who we now know are the true leaders of the Republican Party, would not give it a rest. In the last few days, two distinct voices from the very extreme wing of the conservative movement have, unfortunately, defined the terms under which the health care opposition forces are operating and demonstrating. To the sane world, they are known as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, but to their lieutenants, it can only be assumed they go by "God" and "Master," respectively.
Last week, Glenn Beck described Obama as a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for White people." His comments earned measured criticism from varied sectors-including some of his employers at FOX News, but that failed to deter the mush-mouth maniac from defiantly maintaining his charge. Well, yesterday, he upped the ante quite a bit, labeling civil rights activist group ACORN President Obama's "brownshirts."
His vituperative suggestions correlated perfectly with Rush Limbaugh's comments earlier this week in which the talk show shock jock compared Obama to Adolf Hitler. Limbaugh's comments seemed to hit a raw nerve even within the tough skin bubble of the White House, as spokesman Roberts Gibbs pointed out yesterday that such talk puts him and his kind "on thin ice." Gibbs also asked that the surprising, rising level of vitriol be turned "down a bit"; but no one, who mattered, seemed to be listening.
As posters adorned with swastikas and pictures of Obama with Hitler-esque mustaches are being paraded at town hall meetings, it's clear Beck and Limbaugh's wildest wishes are finally seeing the light of day. But the sobering part of this ordeal has yet been confronted with the moral fortitude it deserves.
Earlier this year in March, I wrote a column that sought to address the growing fanaticism of the right-wing, arguing that "certain factions of the right have begun beating the drum of fear, xenophobia, racism and Negrophobia. ... Getting their message across wouldn't require heavy lifting, as they've found refuge in mainstream TV and radio stations." As with everything else, the reality today is far worse that it was then.
Today, Obama is no more just some Socialist/Marxist. Today, he is Hitler in the flesh--the Black Hitler, with intentions to wipe out the White Race. Many protesters today, the same ones who failed woefully to reenact the Boston Tea Party in April, are more emboldened to carry out the biddings of those like Limbaugh and Beck who would rather not have to steer into their TV screens and be lectured to by a Black president. The fear is thickening; the storms are gathering.
Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy For God, and co-founder of the right-wing Evangelical movement, explained the consequences of this raging storm if not stilled some time soon. Speaking Friday on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, Schaeffer illuminated deftly on the secret heart-desires of some of his former colleagues:
The Glenn Becks of this world literally are responsible for unleashing what I regard as an anti-democratic, anti-American movement in this country that is trying to shut down legitimate debate and replace it with straight-out intimidation. And it is ironic that they are drawing a parallel to Hitler. ...
We're talking about a small, angry group of White people who... are ready to do just about anything to stop the process at this point. ... I honestly think that there is a type of White, middle-aged, American male... who has had a kind of mental collapse... [who is] steering up misinformed right-wing White people, not terribly bright people. ...
There is a coded-message here. And that is that, you have a group of people who, like Rush Limbaugh, would rather see the President and the country fail, and their coded-message to their own lunatic fringe is very simple. And that is: Go for broke. ... You are literally leaving a loaded gun on the table, saying, "the first person who wants to come along and use this--go along, be our guest."
Now, all these people, when something bad happens, would raise their holy hands in horror, saying, "Of course, we didn't mean that. We're just being American. It's American to protest." B.S. They know exactly what's out there. ...
I, for one, share Mr. Schaeffer's views, and hope that these crackpots who've chosen to capitalize on the fears of scared and ill-informed citizens are brought to justice before the inevitable takes place. We've seen this scenario play out before. May it not be repeated.
Tolu Olorunda is a columnist for BlackCommentator.com, and a staff writer at ThisIsRealMusic.com.
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