Color of Race

After posting on August 8, I did email everyone whose email address appeared on that anti-Obama message that wound up in my Inbox. I received a couple of courteous replies and a couple of discourteous replies, one even leaving me to wonder if I was being threatened. But I also wound up with an education. One of the individuals who identifies him (?) self as "m" and says he is an Army veteran of Vietnam has been mailing me more of this anti-Obama trash. Twice now he emailed me the one about Obama's airplane no longer displaying the American flag on its tail. A quick Google of "Obama airplane" brings up the truth from Snopes.com.
The airplane smear is characteristic of all the smears. The intent is to paint Obama in the minds of the feeble as a secretly America-hating Muslim Marxist whose supporters are mindless, time-clock punching puppets. Anyone with the power to think freely, it is argued, should see this.
I have been aware for some time of the notion that Obama is secretly something other than what he appears to be. Right-wingers and even some in the Hilary crowd tried to suggest that he might secretly be Muslim. But I am beginning to understand that the Right are now saying Obama is secretly a Communist, a utopian socialist Marxist.
That comes as quite an education for me.
First I find it surprising that the Right wants to be understood to be critical of American workers who punch a time clock.
Second, I find it amazing that in order to prove that Obama has secrets, the Right circulates easily disproved lies instead of any real evidence.
But most of all, I am struck by the way the Right is painting Obama in stereotypes that Americans have been conditioned to hate.
Hate is the key. The Right is saying that it is OK to hate Obama.
Here's what I think is going on. I think the Right is using reality inversion here. In reality it isn't Obama who is keeping secrets, it's the Right. And the secret they are keeping is that they don't want to see a black man become their leader. Racist America has long defended the power of whites to keep blacks powerless.
The result of white racism against blacks is always fear and hatred.
The intent of the Right to paint Obama as a secret Muslim Marxist is to get the mindless followers of the Right to fear and hate Obama.
The intent of the Right against Obama is the same as the intent of racism. It just uses a different vehicle, a vehicle that only exists in the imagination of the Right. In reality, the Right is expressing racial hatred against Obama.
One of the things that came back to me in the replies to that email was a strong criticism of Michelle Obama. It is well known that she said she is only now able to say she is proud of America.
Strangely enough it never was very popular to express pride in America until the Right made patriotism a political hammer after 9/11. At my high school graduation I spoke in defense of patriotism and to this day can still remember how unpopular patriotism was at the time. Even Ronald Reagan couldn't turn that around. The wave of false patriotism under George Bush and Karl Rove won't last. If Obama wins and Congress is under Democrat control, the last thing these patriots will admit to is pride in America. Pride and patriotism is still just a political hammer.
So the issue with this Michelle Obama thing isn't about pride and patriotism. Think about it. What Michelle Obama was doing was criticizing white-dominated America. An uppity black woman was very publicly criticizing whites. How dare she do that!! Attack her!!! Bring her down!!! Hate her!!!