My sincerest wish with the election of Barack Obama was that the left would finally have to shut up about race; that the elevation (the right word, really) of a black man to the presidency would finally put to rest all the "America is a downright racist country" arguments.
But I was wrong.
Now, we'll get four years of stories like this.
Many conservative pundits and Republican officeholders on the national stage have reacted to the election of Barack Obama as a promising step forward in the history of race relations and democracy in the U.S. But gaining much less coverage from the national media are local reactions that are far less accepting and positive.
Away from the spotlight, many local newspapers around the country have covered recent incidents of racially-motivated reactions to last week’s election, from flags hung upside down to the dangling of nooses and cross-burnings. As we noted last week, a couple in northern New Jersey who had an Obama sign on their front lawn woke up to find the charred remains of a cross out there. Local residents today announced a "unity march" to protest the still-unsolved incident.
Look, I find racist remarks and demonstrations to be as offensive as anyone. And, frankly, it couldn't possibly have been unexpected that there would be jerks who would make their ideas about race and a black president known to the world. Welcome to the arena of free speech where you have the right to be as offended as the next person.
But stories like this one, about second and third graders chanting "Assassinate Obama" deserve way more scrutiny than they are likely to get from the likes of Pam Spaulding who's licking her chops at the idea of smearing the GOP as the party of the KKK (psst, Pam. The KKK isn't in anybody's party. They're equal opportunity!)
After reading the story about grade schoolers, I had a lot of questions, none of which were answered in the article.
1. Where did the kids hear the word "assassinate"?
2. Who told them that killing the president was a good thing?
3. How many kids are we talking about here?
4. Since the article had a big picture of a Mormon temple with it, is there any evidence that shows this was a Mormon attack on Barack Obama, or just a bunch of kids who were mimicking someone they'd heard, either in person, on the radio or on television?
5. Why hasn't the school bothered discussing the badness of killing a president before now? Is it ok if the president is a white guy?
6. Did the people, including media types and the usual talking heads, display equal disgust and anger when books and movies were made about assassinating George W. Bush?
Don't think for a minute that the Secret Service isn't going to be on super duper extra high level security alert for the next four years. Yes, there are whackos who won't like Obama because he's black and those nuts will probably try to take him out. But guess what? If he weren't black, there would still be nuts who tried to take him out. It happened to Ronald Reagan. Or you could ask George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton or George W.Bush about slobs wanting to kill the president.
But for God's sake, try not to smear whole religious groups or the GOP over the behavior of a few jerks. I don't blame all Democrats for the numbnuts who produced Death of a President and Assassination.
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