Joe Gandelman, always a good laugh, grows a frown on what he perceives as harsh treatment his messiah has received thus far.

“Every President has had his contingent of seemingly-professional haters, sometimes stemming from policy but sometimes stemming from the need to market an opposition persona, increase readership or an audience, or rally partisan followers to do battle to halt specific polices. The degree of hatred varies in both its intensity and justification.

Democrat Bill Clinton had his big share of professional Clinton haters (both prominent and not so prominent would say things such as “He’s not MY President…”) and Democrats decried it and some Republicans defended it. Then came Republican George W. Bush who got his share of haters, then Republicans decried it (the most typical defense was to try and go on the offense and lump those who’d strongly criticize the President on policy with the professional Bush haters as suffering from “Bush derangement syndrome” — a tidy way to try to discredit all critics suggesting they were all unreasonable and not having legitimate grounds for strong criticism) and some Democrats who decried the lack of respect for Clinton defended it.

But here in December 2008 we ‘re seeing a special kind of political hatred — way early in the game.

President Elect Barack Obama has not put his fanny in the Oval Office chair for one second yet, and there is an intensity now among some Republican conservatives to push frantically push hot buttons — a probable harbinger of what is likely to come. Amid reports that the economy is not just bad but is on the brink of tanking, their emphasis is not on policy but overt or slightly disguised overt political demonization. Using whatever they feel can stick to rally their audience and/or readership.

Believe it or not, they’re still beating the now-thinly-disguised drum over Obama’s middle name “Hussein.” Which they wouldn’t do if it had been Walker or even Schwartz. Isn’t it time to call THIS detailed in this post for what it is? It’s politics of hate couched in (barely) plausible deniability.”

“Professional haters”. Gandelman’s been obviously drunk, in a closet, or – better yet – willfully ignorant of the last eight years when the left did nothing but play the “hate card” on George Bush, and in ways never before seen. Shameful and cowardly ways at that.

There’s a lot more to bother about Barack Obama than his given middle name, which was never an issue except for Obama himself who wouldn’t use it during his campaign. There are many legitimate questions about his Chief of Staff appointment, Raum Immanuel and his growing involvement in the Blagojevich scandal, and we – that is bloggers and the media will look into these things.

If Obama or his followers can’t handle that too bad. It’s our turn now.Technorati Tags: