Assassination Fears

From the always-perspicacious Ernie, rescued from the depths of my bulletin board. For what it's worth, I put my hopes, such as they are, in the fact that Unabombers, Timothy McVeighs, and Anders Breiviks are as rare as they are. Thank goodness most ideologues don't put their ideas into practice (though I suppose there's less to be thankful about when that same circumspection spares a Hitler, a Stalin, a Pol Pot, an Idi Amin, or a Mao):August 20, 2011 9:44 amArthur: Not sure how you feel about this but. IMHO, if Obama is re-elected, I think he faces the greatest possibility of a violent attack against him from a right-wing fanatic. My reasoning is this:It is now clear that the Republican strategy from Day One of Obama’s Presidency has been to prevent him from achieving anything.The “respectable” wing of the GOP presents themselves as merely arguing against Obama “policies” they disagree with.But the fanatic and conspiratorial wings of the GOP use every opportunity to convey personal contempt toward Obama as a person.They use everything from:(1) associating him with “terrorists” (i.e. Bill Ayers),(2) to questioning his religious beliefs (“he’s a Muslim”),(3) to denying his U.S. citizenship (birthers),(4) to explicit appeals to racism (“he hates whites”; or “one must consider his Kenyan background”),(4) to questioning his loyalty or patriotism (he’s not one of “us” and he always “apologizes for America” or he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism,) etc.(5) to declaring he subscribes to alien concepts (“he’s a socialist” or “marxist”)Now:(a) Everyone knows that no American President in history (other than FDR) has ever won re-election when unemployment has been as high as it is now(b) All current polling suggests that the “right track/wrong track” question produces large majorities who think we are on the “wrong track”(c) When Obama took office, the “Misery Index” (unemployment rate added to the inflation rate) was 7.83; it currently is 12.76 and trending consistently upwardConsequently:1. The GOP has every reason to believe that Obama will be (as Michele Bachmann constantly says) a “one-term President”.2. The Tea Party’s influence within the GOP makes it extremely unlikely that any GOP incumbent in Congress or any GOP candidate in 2012 will attempt to find common ground with Obama because doing so will undermine their objective of presenting him as a failed President.3. SO — If Obama is re-elected, I think some fanatic is going to conclude that a “second amendment remedy” is entirely appropriate and necessary.