I imagine that too much press has been given Mike Huckabee over his outrageous comments concerning President Obama, the treaty with Iran, and images of the Holocaust. I can't seem to let go of it, partly because I'm a history fanatic, and partly because, although I'm not religious, I will always consider myself a Jew. I'm one of the lucky ones; my grandparents on both sides escaped Russia in the late 19th century during the endless pogroms, and as such, I had no close relatives in danger during the horror that was World War II. In fact, I had 3 uncles who were in the service, one even bringing home an odd souvenir; a fit together, mess kit sort of three piece silverware set, complete with bottle opener and requisite swastika. But I digress...
Fortunately, none of my uncles had to witness the horror that was the discovery of the multitude of concentration camps, both work camps and death camps. They had seen enough, however, to not have been surprised.
This past weekend, I listened as perennial candidate, ex-governor, part-time pastor and full-time huckster Mike Huckabee compare the Iran Nuclear treaty to the ovens at the death camps, stating that this would be Obama's doing, ignoring, of course, that this was a multinational deal, and that it had been scrutinized by several nuclear experts. At first, I found it amusing; hadn't Huckabee just made the analogy weeks earlier that gay marriage was the Holocaust?
I found that I couldn't shake his words, though. Iran nuclear deal = ovens? It left me sickened, as all comparisons to both Hitler and the Holocaust do, not only in their facile nature, but in their dismissal of history. Do those who make these comparisons not know what happened? Do they not understand that, apart from the battle dead, that the Nazis, led by Hitler, murdered 6 million Jews and 6 million others, Gypsies, Slavs, Poles, Gays, "Mentally ill" and whomever they chose to consider inferior? Do they think that ANYTHING that is happening today, in the United States, could be even remotely similar? Do they have such shallow moral centers that they either don't feel for the dead of the past, don't care, or do they hate our president THAT much? If so, they are frightening to me.
I'm not, certainly, going to be the one who will make the Hitler or Nazi comparison, but we as a nation have to do some real soul searching. Both political parties, and any who call themselves liberal, conservative, progressive or libertarian are fond of slinging pot shots. I love it as well. But when invective gets to the point of stark hatred, where does a slippery slope start, and when does it become unable to stop?
We are in the midst of what is becoming a long hot summer, what with Charleston, Chattanooga, Lafayette, Sandra Bland, innocent children accosted at a swimming pool, Confederate flags, demonstrations and counter demonstrations. Some are horrendous, some rise up out of horror. The summer is only half over, and I'm pessimistic enough right now to think that more is to come. What we don't need is a slew of presidential wannabees making hay (or big bucks) on any of it.