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100 Days of Paranoia
Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo
It seems that no matter what Obama does as president, wild-eyed conspiracy theorists will generate their own reality.
Americans love conspiracy theories. One of America’s favorites at the moment maintains that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim. I don't believe it, of course. But there's something so forehead-slappingly strange about the notion that you can't help but wonder how, even after 100 days in office, Obama retains this air of mystery. In October, before the election, the Pew Research Center found that only 51 percent of Americans believed that Obama was a Christian, while 12 percent were convinced that he was a Muslim. The good people at Pew asked the question again in March, and they found that the numbers had barely changed: 48 percent think Obama is a Christian and 11 percent think he's a Muslim. The rest are unsure.
It gets better. One of my favorite numbers from that Pew poll is that of voters who approve of Obama's job performance, 7 percent believe that he's a Muslim. They seem to be saying, "Hey man, as long as I get my stimulus, you can worship Allah all day," which is pretty admirable. But does the persistence of the Muslim Obama theory have a more dangerous edge to it? It just might.
After 9/11, a small cottage industry sprung up around the celebration of George W. Bush’s greatness, complete with bronze busts and package tours of Crawford, Texas. At the same time, 9/11 Truthers claimed that a secret Zionist cabal was behind the 2001 terror attacks. If anything, Barack Obama has proved an even more electrifying—and even more polarizing—figure than President Bush, despite the fact that he mostly comes across as a sober, professorial executive. We can’t even decide if he’s telling the truth about his religion, let alone the NAFTA superhighway or a secret plan for one world government.
When the Department of Homeland Security issued its clumsy report on right-wing domestic extremists, conservatives were furious. Some even argued that dissent was being criminalized. But the truth is that extremists of the right and left really have gone bananas in our history. I worry that we've entered a dark and paranoid moment in our history, and that these first 100 days—for all the craziness and tumult of the economic apocalypse—will be remembered as pleasingly calm.
Reihan Salam is a fellow at the New America Foundation and the co-author of Grand New Party.
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Truthiness NEEDS to be spread by the Colbert Movement to counteract all the tin foil inhabitants generating from the extremes of society ...
BTW, I do NOT think praising Allah is as bad as some may think ...
We all have some form of "god" ...
You supported Palin and that's when I stopped listening. This is life here bro, not a popularity contest.
Mark Makinnon (a Republican) spews his venom of a chaotic America where every one rove the street with their guns and men and women hiding in their basement with can food. And now Salam is talking about that "we've entered a dark and paranoid moment in our history" and this 100 days will be remembered as pleasantly calm. The Right just cannot wait for all the bad things to happened to Obama so they can reclaim the power. Their utopic vision is dark and chaotic. Even though they pretend that they are worry about their "crazies' they are secretly hoping the crazies (with gun) will rake havoc and give Obama some hard time (on top of dealing with Iraq, financial crisis and hundreds other problems created mainly by the GOP regime for the past 8 years). I say, give it up. Until you guys come up with better ideas to solve the problem, relying on the crazies will not get you back in power. Once the crazies, tacitly encouraged by Rush, and other Republican talking heads, start making stupid move and destabilizing our society, people will turn on them (remember the bomber Timothy McVey) and they will blame GOP for fanning the hatred. the 12% and 11% who believe Obama is a Muslim are those who do not read newspaper or access mainstream media. They are either willingly remain ignorant (and worse, proud of it!) or purposefully turn their eyes away from the truth. They just don't want to know the truth because it helps to stir them up and maintain their bigoted anger. And I will bet my money on these 11-12% of the polled are coming from the 33% of the total population who support the GOP no mater what.
Now after 100 days of Obama's presidency, more people think the country is heading towards the right direction than the wrong direction. There is no mystery....we now have a president that is intelligent, pragmatic, articulate and thoughtful instead of shooting from an ignorant hip. He is also one that has a global perspective and knows how to relate to people of different cultures within and out of this country. I really can't understand the GOPs negative perspective and I was a republican until nine years ago when I realized that the GOP don't respect me and my views as a minority woman.
LLPo99 in a mere 100 days Obama has outspent 8 years of Bush by 3 times. He did this without creating one job and gave billions to his friends on wall street. Then to top it off he made the bonus's to these failing CEO's mandatory. CHAINS only you can believe in. All he has done is give future generation's wealth to the wealthy. What else has he done?
"even more polarizing...than George Bush." The problem with paranoia is that people forget the meaning of words, forget history and get everything muddled up. Really good wordsmiths can give their arguments the appearance of logic by a clever turn of phrase -such as George Will- yet when you remove a single unsubstantiated assumption, the house of cards falls down. Now we are comparing Obama to Bush? How unkind to Bush. Just because some are inspired to spew violent invective more openly, does not mean the country is polarized. Was the US polarized over civil rights in the '60s? I don't think so. We were more polarized over busing in the '70s. In traditional political lexicon (and the Rubs are all about tradition, no?) 'polarized' has meant an electorate nearly evenly split, whether in elections or in polls. Obama's win was a landslide compared to 2000 and 2004, and his polls have only gotten better.
Calling President Obama a 'polarizing' figure is a backhanded attempt to put some blame back on him. In fact, what's been said by GOP leaders and their media mouthpieces are subtle/not so subtle calls to violence, paranoia, demands for bona fides from fellow travelers, and calls for secession. Their words and how little related they are from what is actually happening puts the blame squarely on them. Secession? How un-American can you get?
Mr Salam.
You voted for Palin and now you are upset that the very BASE that voted for her are a little whacky?.
PLEASE....... You get whay ya pay for, now it's time to pay that due......
Mr. Salam,
Very observant. That was a tough one to catch. Some people believe Obama is a Muslim, but he is not.
Some people believe the earth is flat, but it is not. More people believe war founded our freedoms. The opposite is true:
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-is-americas-greatest-enemy.ht ml
The opposite of the truth of many issues is believed. That is the result of many, many years of the institutionalization of deceit:
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/01/deceive-business.html
Obama himself says he was born a Muslem. Then changed to a Christian. Muslem's disagreee and say when you are born a Muslem one cannot change.
oops ... corrected link to above post:
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-is-americas-greatest-enemy.ht ml
Thank you.
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