“Barack Obama is Satan,” and Other Fallacies of the Right

Barack Obama is not Satan. He is not the anti-Christ, nor is he a particularly great president. Yet I often read a decent conservative article, making some valid point that needs to be addressed, only to scroll down and read ten comments about how Barack Obama is the ultimate manifestation of evil. Anti-Islamic, intolerant, and anti-Christian, such comments do little to validate a conservative program with much to offer. In fact, they hurt it.

Last week I read an article about an Egyptian newspaper depicting Barack Obama as Satan. This was important stuff. It was something not covered by the mainstream media; it showed how it is not just the foreign policy of the GOP but that of mainstream American political thought that has created anti-American sentiment in the Middle East; it made it clear that the Bush era is not so separable from that of President Obama. I was delighted, but then I scrolled down to the comments section. I was looking at up-votes for comments calling our president, a man worthy of respect, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with him, everything from a terrorist to the Antichrist. One commenter said something like “I don’t think he’s the Antichrist, but I think he’s anti-Christ,” only to be met with harsh criticism and declarations of the end-times. I’m sorry, what?

Perhaps I was just in some weird internet backwater, but I don’t think so. It is well known that candidates must appeal to the “conservative base” in primaries. Is this base not, at least partially, represented in the comments I saw?

Many of these people use Christian rhetoric. Aside from clearly missing passages like “but of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mk. 13:32) and “stop judging, that you may not be judged” (Mt. 7:1), such comments engage in the overt politicization of religion, exactly what they excuse the president of doing.

I do not pretend that most conservatives act this way, but such voices cannot be allowed to define the conservative coalition. I speak not as an angry liberal, but as a concerned conservative: we need redefinition. As long as this chorus dominates, Jon Huntsman and Chris Christie stand no chance. As long as we ignore the wolves in our midst, we invite our own slaughter.