I started to write a post about how I think the void on the Supreme Court is going to impact the election but I'm busy and Amanda Marcotte said pretty much the same thing better than I could. The one thing I don't quite agree with is when she says…
Everyone knows the real reason [Republicans oppose Obama] is the conservative base has never accepted that a black Democrat could be a legitimately elected President, and after 7 years of having to live with a President the majority of white voters voted against, Republicans are going to use this as a chance to throw a nationwide temper tantrum.
I'm sure race is part of it but I think there are plenty of Obama detractors where that isn't an issue or is a tiny part of it. There are Republicans who just plain think any Democrat of any color is bad and unworthy of public office, just as there are plenty of Dems who feel that way about any Repub — or will in the future. Bill Clinton was a white male and my righter-wing friends felt he was only President of the United States by some flukish technicality and wasn't really President the way Reagan or Bush were.
I'm really wondering if in my lifetime, we will ever see a president who is accepted, albeit grudgingly, by the opposition party. Or if from now on, the rule is going to be if your side loses an election, the person who won is illegitimate, unqualified for the position for some moral reason and maybe a legal one to boot, and every single thing he or she does is wrong, potentially lethal to the United States and probably an impeachable offense.