Obama as a Black Jimmy Carter

Having grown up in the South and seeing a dark underside all my life, I don't think this line from David Neiwert is far off the mark:

If you thought the far right went nuts in the 1990s -- when the Democratic president was a white Southern male -- just wait till there's a President Obama. Progressives should be bracing for it.

To this day bashing Jimmy Carter remains a cottage industry, not only for those on the right, but a good many others who may not like what they know to be reprehensible but who for political reasons don't want to rub anyone's fur the wrong way. Come to think of it, Tennessee's Al Gore ain't treated a lot better by the same crowd.

For some the impulse to bash is not benign. There is a small but dangerous subset of ignorant people willing to cross the violence line.

...there is indeed a potential threat looming after this election in which terrorists will make ordinary people feel unsafe about going to places like malls -- just like they did in the 1990s.

But they won't be Arabs coming from Baghdad. They'll be little Timmy McVeighs from Buffalo.