Why do the right-wing Republicans distrust Obama so greatly?

[kentuck]

If John McCain had been elected, after what we have experienced with the banks and the economy and unemployment, would we be similarly distrustful??

It is difficult for me to grasp why they distrust Obama so much but said nary a word when George W Bush was President?? When they were spying and eavesdropping on millions of Americans - including Barack Obama, when they were asleep at the wheel when we were attacked, when they invaded another country on lies, when they doubled our debt and had the largest deficits in history, when they crashed our entire economic system, they said nothing. And now, they distrust Obama?

[Aviation Pro]

1. Oh, I don't know, maybe because the President....

...is black. But that's just a stab in the dark.

[Cha]

13. Oh, and maybe because he's a

popular Dem prez in addition to the thing you mentioned..ya:think:

[Orsino]

17. ...with the charisma that every one of Them lacks...

...and the brains to outwit Them.

[Cha]

19. Like Frank Schaeffer said on Rachel Maddow's about the 2008 election..

"It broke their brains".. and it's not just about PO being Black..it's the whole package.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Because Obama frustrates their efforts to make their corporate sponsors

richer and more powerful.

[Flying Dream Blues]

3. Brainwashed is one thought...since none of the things you mentioned

are part of their view of reality.

[tridim]

4. There are assloads of DUers who distrust Obama..

Maybe they'll chime in with the answer?

[YOY]

5. It's say its' the D after his name.

They don't speak "bipartisan" let alone come to grips easily that a black man is president.

[RT Atlanta]

6. He's black

n/t

[LeftishBrit]

7. Because...

(a) he isn't right-wing

(b) he is black

(c) he has international connections

(d) he wants to introduce eeeevil 'socialized medicine' (actually, by the standards of most developed countries, his healthcare proposals are not as 'socialized' as all that)

(e) he's a Dem - look how they treated Bill Clinton!

After all, these are types who would probably have distrusted McCain as too 'moderate' and hoped that he would drop dead as soon as possible so that God's Anointed could take his place!

[merh]

8. Because they didn't put the guy into office.

They trust the idiots they put into office, even when those idiots abuse the office and their trust on a daily basis.

The American way is about competition, our guy is better than your guy because we said so.

[rvablue]

9. Because he won.

edit to add:

And if he succeeds in implementing his policy agenday, the GOP will be facing many, many years in the political wilderness.

[peacetalksforall]

10. Distrst Obama so greatly? It is all orchestrated. They are being led

into it just as they are being led to the end times. Very carefully and successfully orchestrated.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

11. Because he's a left wing Democrat?

The right-wing republicans didn't say anything about Bush Junior because (drumroll...) he was a right-wing republican.

Welcome to the two-party system. Drinks and pastries are on the table over there and the restrooms are in the back.

[mike_c]

12. race is only a small part of it, IMO....

I know lots of people believe that the RW is irredeemably racist, and maybe they are, but I don't think that's the biggest issue for them.

I think it's ideological, and I think it cuts both ways.

It's ideological because the RW noise makers and political leadership has thoroughly demonized the very concept of liberalism to the extent that identifying ANY leader as liberal makes him or her the enemy, by definition. Nothing Obama does or doesn't do will change that. It's culture war, egged on to some extent by class war and the social divisions that the RW exploits. Racism is part of that, to be sure, but I think they would despise a liberal white president just as much, and maybe even more-- they would feel even more betrayed if Obama was white, I suspect.

It cuts both ways because, frankly, many of us react more-or-less the same way to conservative politicians, and especially to anyone with a history of working with the republican party since the Gingrich years, including the repigs in office or prominent within the party during the Bush administration. I certainly feel that same instinctive distrust for RWers.

[kentuck]

14. Damn! mike_c, you sound like Noam Chomsky!

And that's a compliment. :-)

[mike_c]

21. one more comment....

Rereading my response, I realize that I left out the part that I think race really plays in all this. It makes the average RW Joe more vocal than he or she would be if a liberal white president were in office. Not the gas bags like Limbaugh-- remember that Limbaugh and company's tirades against Clinton elevated the political talk radio noise to enormous profitability-- but rather, the folks who listen to the gas bags and RW politicians.

Many of those folks WANT to respect the office of president and they want whomever holds that office to win respect by default-- and to demonstrate respectability in return. THAT'S where the President's race plays the most important role, I think. A female president would likely generate some of the same vocal and unconcealed opposition. When we respect our opponents, we tend to treat them respectfully, even when going to the mat. When we disrespect them, even for reasons that have nothing to do with our opposition, e.g. because they're members of a different racial or ethnic group, we're often more blatant about our opposition. We tend to use the language of disrespect more often.

Remember too that we were just as disrespectful of Bush when he was in office. I won't even try to justify that-- Bush deserved every ounce of scorn he got, IMO, but the RW saw folks like you and me calling him the Monkey King and dumbya with routine disdain. It's part of the culture war now-- we're all quick to nit-pick every word the opposition utters, yelling for apologies for disrespect before we invest the time to debate the larger, more pressing policy differences that lie behind all the political bread and circuses.

[kentuck]

22. I tend to agree...

Sometimes we need to look a little inward.

[imdjh]

15. The Right Wing Republicans pretty much turned on Bush by his second term.

It would be a stretch to say that they were as lockstep throughout his presidency. They pretty much turn on anyone who isn't what they consider a "real conservative" which means religious, social, and fiscal. The thing which buggers their organization is that those on the extreme right, can't agree on the priorities of religious, social, and fiscal conservatism. The corporate zealot is at odd with the religious zealot.

The Right Wing has something in common with the extreme Left- they both want something that hopefully isn't going to happen, and if it did would be disastrous.

[Winterblues]

16. Obama can destroy them

If Obama does what he says he will, Republicans will be shown up for the despicable cult they truly are. Americans will see results that are favorable for America in direct contrast to what Republicans have done and promised... Republicans will be put to shame and they know it and are terrified by that prospect. That is why they are not pulling any punches. Their entire existence is at stake..

[Enthusiast]

18. The GOP PTB

that are generating most of the mistrust don't mistrust him in the least. Mistrust is simply a tool they are using to ramp up fear and control.

[Taverner]

20. Because he's black. nt

[LeftHander]

23. It is not about distrust...that is what they want you think.

They simply hate him. They don't want a him to be successful in any way.

That is why the GOP is a waste of air.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

24. Because they watch Fox News all the time, basically. I have to watch it a fair bit because

it's everywhere were I work. If you ever watch it, the Fox anchors and "reporters" basically editorialize against Democrats and Obama with every syllable. Everything is loaded inflections, raised eyebrows and pregnant pauses to imply that every single thought or action from Obama or any Democrat is completely suspect and crazy, and that any GOP position is received wisdom from the Mount.

They don't deliver one sentence of news straight. You get that propaganda message ("what the hell are those crazy traitorous Dems thinking") continuously.

And these people watch that shite all day every day.

[bridgit]

25. The entire RW apparatus is founded upon ego maniacal white supremacy

[biscotti]

26. Sometimes I think it is

Pure Jealousy from there lack of class, morally bankrupt and no one in their party can admit to their egregious mistakes.

[TrogL]

27. Because he's not authoritarian

Hence, they don't understand how he thinks, which frightens them.