Personal Attacks
Personal attacks on President Obama are not rare. Since the beginning of his presidency, a conservative sector — and later the Tea Party — openly questioned if he really had been born in the United States as a way to dispute his legitimacy when he won the election.
Polls among Republicans show the deep dislike they feel against the President. Direct attacks aimed at discrediting him are popular in the base, which helps fundraising.
Ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s recent comments saying that Obama wasn’t brought up “the way you were brought up” and does not love the U.S. fit this context.
The same questioning has been applied to Obama’s religious beliefs, despite numerous written proof and expressions regarding his Christian faith. There are still people who believe that the President is a Muslim, and they hold on to this theory to demonstrate why he is “weak” in front of ISIS or incapable of facing the Islamic challenge. Here, Obama’s supposed weakness regarding foreign policy is also attributed to his personality.
The strategy to gain points at Obama’s expense can even confuse an unguarded prospective GOP nominee to the presidency in 2016, such as Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Recently, the Republican was unable to answer when asked if he believed Obama does not love the U.S. and if he thought the President is a Christian. Other Republicans replied to such self-evident questions without hesitation, but in trying to win the favor of the most conservative voters, Walker came across as an ignorant.
Personal attacks are part of politics. Studies show that, unfortunately, negative publicity is most effective. Still, Obama’s case has broken all records for its intensity and for the high personal level of the critiques, as we have seen multiple times when he has been accused of being biased against white people.
Freedom of expression allows for practically everything. However, it is unacceptable when political criticism turns personal, and uses lies about religion and questions someone’s patriotism with the intention of demonizing
