"The right’s crusade against Obama"

[applegrove]

The right’s crusade against Obama

By Ruth Marcus Columnist, the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-rights-crusade-against-obama/2015/02/06/a36f8202-ae5b-11e4-9c91-e9d2f9fde644_story.html?tid=rssfeed

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Such is the daggers-drawn state of political discourse in Washington these days that President Obama could go to the National Prayer Breakfast, call the Islamic State a “brutal, vicious death cult” — and still end up being assailed by conservatives.

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Thus, former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore’s (R) over-the-top reaction to Obama’s remarks as “the most offensive I’ve ever heard a president make in my lifetime.” Obama, Gilmore thundered, “has offended every believing Christian in the United States.”

But wait, that’s not all. More Gilmore: “This goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share.” Okay, if you’re one of the hordes of 2016 presidential hopefuls, maybe you’ve got to ramp up the rhetoric to have your voice heard, but really, this goes too far.

Gilmore wasn’t alone. “Obama Insults Christians,” blared the Catholic League; its president, Bill Donohue, termed Obama’s comments “an attempt to deflect guilt from Muslim madmen.” Twitter erupted. Ditto Rush Limbaugh.

This reaction was as predictable as it was disheartening. Conservatives have ample grounds to assail Obama on his handling of the war on terror and his belated response to the rise of the Islamic State.

Instead, they seem inexorably drawn to overstate, to detect insult to Americans and animus toward the United States where none exists. This reaction says more about Obama’s critics, and their inability to accept his legitimacy, than it does about the president.



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