I was beginning to muse this morning after reading the latest "everything is Obama's fault" from Herr Furor concerning the gassing in Syria.
Why continue to blame Obama? Why mention him at all. To the left it is a reminder of a good thing that has been lost.
Herr Furor defeated him, yet HF is still blaming Obama for things that are now, by Furor's own choosing, the responsibility of the current CIC and POTUS, Donnie who uses make up and spray net, Trump.
Maybe it was the reverse Pavlov's Cats video that put it into my head.
Is Herr Furor using "Obama" like a Pavlovian trigger? He talked about and demonized Obama so much, as in incessantly, in the campaign and in the interim period and post swearing in, and still, that he may have, and probably has created, for some Conservatives, particularly racists and Nazis a dog whistle that he can attach to anything he wants to vilify. Just mention the name Obama and his pack of hounds is lunging at their leashes in attack mode.
That idea was somewhat reinforced when I ran across this article What White Liberals So Often Get Wrong About Racism
Here's the first paragraph stating its thesis:
In the United States, white liberals and progressives have historically shown a serious inability to grapple with the realities of the color line and the enduring power of white supremacy. Many of them are either unable or unwilling to understand that fighting against class inequality does not necessarily remedy the specific harms done to African-Americans and other people of color by white racism."
The article also contains a quote from Malcolm X.
I read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and a biography in the 60's and read the autobiography again about a decade later. Malcolm said things that were very uncomfortable for Whites to hear. He made many look at themselves from the other side of their own skin. He is seen largely as a rabble rouser and flame thrower but his words are very thought filled, cogent, and as timely today as they were half a century ago.
It is extremely difficult for us as individuals to internalize and recognize something that is basically omnipresent and see that it is wrong to a greater or lesser extent in all of us.
We are social animals and we accept the norm subconsciously. However many times we tell ourselves that we are not racists, or bigots or sexist, we have been to a greater or lesser extent trained to be those things and more.
Maybe training his voters to a dog whistle response is something Trump read about in Mein Kamph or elsewhere, maybe he is socially attuned enough to have figured it out on his own. But he does appear to use the word "Obama" as a signal to rouse the anger of his base or maybe as just an expression of his own hate and subconscious realization of his own inadequacies.
As much as Dem candidates can they might try ads that list all the positive things that Obama and Dems have given average citizens over the last 8 years. And there's more where that came from if you elect us. Obama Obama Obama
Would defanging that word, Obama, as a weapon that Herr Furor uses make a difference in his policies? Who knows, but it might help the odds of survival, not just Obama's legacy, but the processes and programs that helped make life better for all Americans.