Are We Facing a New Civil War?

I hate to think about how many people feel this way toward the president.

If Mitt Romney wins the popular vote because of an overwhelming advantage in the red states, and Barack Obama wins the presidency by his advantage in electoral votes, will the red states, especially the southern ones, reject the legitimacy of Obama's reelection? I'm venturing a guess that they will.

An effort was undertaken to delegitimize Barack Obama from the start of his presidency, and it's continued virtually unabated throughout. Rumors that he was born in Kenya or Indonesia, that he was really a Muslim and certainly not a Christian, implications that he was not really eligible for the presidency either by birth or disposition have been persistent to this day. From Sarah Palin to John Sununu to Glenn Beck, the accusations flew that Obama was not a real American.

This ain't love, folks.

It's all bunk, of course. But it's worth a look at the consequences of this misinformation campaign. One, already in the mix, is that Barack Obama may, in fact, not be reelected because of the strong undercurrent of racism that continues, regardless of where we as a country should be in the 21st century. We should be in that "post-racial" society we long for, but clearly we're not.

In fact, the result of a recent poll conducted by The Associated Press showed that racism has, in fact, risen since Barack Obama was elected, with anti-black sentiment rising from 51% in 2008 to 56% today. This is sad but not unpredictable. We Americans continue to take two steps forward and one step back.

Beyond the birtherism, racism, and anti-Obama rhetoric by tea-party types that has maintained a steady din since the inception of the Obama administration, in recent weeks, we've seen an uptick in crazy talk about how the Obama administration might be "cooking the books" with Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs reports. A nice rise in employment a couple of weeks back was greeted not with relief but ridiculous accusations of gaming the system for political advantage.

Check these crazy assertions:

If this is how Fox News reacts to a standard-issue jobs report, albeit favorable to Barack Obama, how do you think the southern, indeed, even the western and mid-western states will react to a split decision giving the presidency back to Obama?

I dread the thought, I really do. It will be 2000 times a zillion. I don't hope for it, I don't relish it, I hope I'm wrong.

Anyway, be prepared.