We Can't Have That Black Man In Our White House

I thought "Bush Derangement Syndrome" (BDS) was scary. I didn't like Bush, made a point of not listening to his speeches (more because I'd put my foot through the screen listening to his malapropisms) and in general thought that everything the man touched turned to disaster, but some of my really "out there" friends were crazy (and not in a good way) about Bush.

But "We Can't Have That Black Man In Our White House" syndrome makes BDS look positively benign by comparison. At least the BDS people weren't carrying weapons openly where Bush was about to make a speech, as happened with Obama here in Phoenix last month. Yup, it makes us Arizonans look real good when the world sees gun-totin' idiots mouthing off. I'm so mortified. We're really not all like that!

Then there's the whole "Birther" thing, which seems to have swallowed whole even very intelligent people. I had to plonk a guy yesterday that I've been chatting with online since 1995, a guy who is a tenured university professor in a hard science at a prestigious private Eastern university, because he's bought into Birther crap (no other word suits). Look: The man was born in Honolulu, on American soil, GET OVER IT. (I have to wonder what's going to happen when we eventually elect a man or woman whose parents were undocumented/illegal immigrants.)

There is a fundamental difference between disliking the president intensely because of his policies and disliking him because of made-up garbage coming straight from the mouths of alleged pundits of the right wing. I have a friend who dislikes Obama for the former reason, but he doesn't call Obama "Obambi" and he doesn't say that Obama is not a citizen. But when people who are otherwise intelligent entertain stupid Birther crap, you can only do this:

And, finally, the latest iteration of "We Can't Have That Black Man In Our White House" Syndrome (or WCHTBMIOWH) is the insanity being whipped up by right-wing talk show hosts because, my goodness, Obama wanted to talk to the kiddies at the beginning of the school year to tell them to study hard and persevere in school. I didn't realize that studying was "socialist." I didn't realize that persevering in one's school work was an evil plot against everything we Americans hold dear. I didn't even have a clue before last week that these nutbars are so crazy that they'll go ballistic over a speech. to schoolchildren. to encourage them. to do better in school. This takes a DOUBLE facepalm:

Really. Picard, I feel your pain.