Maureen Dowd has said it: much of the fear/anger over President Obama is expressed by people who are not able to accept a black president. The fears that he threatens our American ways by being a socialist are thinly disguised fears that white supremacy is threatened. After all, if everyone has health care (for example), then that's one less way to feel superior. Saying this out loud is sure to provoke a tsunami of denials and accusations of playing the race card. But I've been thinking it. And I expected it. Racism is alive and well in this country. But it is encoded in issues that make people feel less racist.

And I do think there's more to the anti-Obama anger than racism. In part it has to do with the state of fear that the Bush administration peddled for eight years. Those who bought into the fear are still terribly afraid. And a president who isn't selling fear brings them to a state of panic. Bush reassured them that they were right to be afraid--so what do they do with that fear now? And if, in truth, they don't need to be afraid, then they've been duped, and who will they blame for showing them they've been duped? They blame the messenger.

And clearly some people are blaming Obama for problems caused by the pro-Big Business policies of the Republican government. He is blamed for the deficit, for the struggling economy, and for not being able to solve these massive problems in six months. But Republicans held all three branches of government for a long time, and the result is that business isn't well regulated. The proverb says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Certainly it begets greed, and the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. History shows that unregulated capitalism will cause great distress for working people--that's why we have regulations. And now we have a president who will take care of the little people, so Big Business is spending some of its profits scaring people into thinking that Obama will make the people more economically distressed--when, in fact, it is Big Business (insurance, medical equipment, pharmaceutical companies, etc) who will take the hit--and all the while, Big Business is filling its deep pockets and getting richer.

And for some Obama-haters, it's payback for Democrats who refused to accept George W. as the winner in 2000. In return, the birthers' claim is that Obama isn't eligible is equivalent. Tit for tat.