Somewhere in rural Pennsylvania yesterday, we cats saw a bumper sticker that said, "It's Obama's fault."
How handy. Whatever "it" is — the government shutdown, closed war memorials, creeping socialism — blame Barack Obama. In fact, the teabags are even saying, impeach him for "it." (Goodness gracious. The GOP must be so frustrated that 44 doesn't have a thing for interns.)
But back to that bumper sticker. Thinking about the right wing's fear and loathing of our current Commander in Chief, and checking out the various how-did-we-get-here laments of the Beltway's opinion makers, we know better.
It's Reagan's fault. Ronald Reagan was a co-architect and lead builder of America's current House Divided.
Yes, we know that Ronnie wasn't the first Republican President to get himself elected by encouraging Americans to resent and distrust one another. (That "honor" goes to Richard Nixon and his Southern Strategy.) But Reagan honed it to a fine art: Speechifying on "states' rights" near Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of the Freedom Rider murders; visiting the Nazi cemetery at Bitburg; whipping up outrage at mythical "welfare queens" who, he claimed, fraudulently collected assistance checks while driving around in Cadillacs.
It's just a short leap from vile crap like that to a guy waving the Confederate battle flag outside the White House. And if you visit today's fulminating right-wing websites, you can see that Reagan's welfare queen is alive and well. She's enrolling in Obamacare.
So let's be honest. Ronald Reagan was not the wily, genial if somewhat doddering President that Republicans (and journalists with bad memories) worship today. And although the current GOP constantly violates Reagan's 11th commandment and has no clue about how he actually governed, his hateful legacy informs everything they do.
We wish Ronnie had taken a page from his predecessor's book and built Habitat for Humanity homes instead. But we're left with his House Divided. And we all know what the 16th President said happens to houses like that.
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