The Dog Whistle Approach

Of course for years Democrats have been noting that some Republicans and Conservatives use the Dog Whistle approach on some issues touching racism. Essentially they say things that some of their listeners will understand indicate a concern about the growing power of minorities and the shrinking power of white males, while the rest of the audience won't pick up on it. They can't be overtly racist; but they can signify to racists that they understand where they are coming from. With the rise of Barack Obama some are blowing on their dog whistles more than ever and others have carefully put them away.

Rush Limbaugh falls in the former camp; and has gone so far as to hook his dog whistle up to an air compressor.

My friends, despite what CNN and the rest are telling you, Barack Obama is nothing more than an old school African Colonial who is on his way to turning this country into one of the developing nations that you learn about on the National Geographic Channel," meaning he wants to turn this into a Third World country.

. . . Americans look at Obama, first black president, and they go, "Oh we're shedding some of our guilt here. Look at how enlightened we are, what a great country we are," when in fact we've elected somebody who is more African in his roots than he is American. Loves his father who was a Marxist, and is behaving like an African colonial despot and you can see it in his healthcare legislation, the stimulus bill, taking over automobile companies, the czars that he has that are not accountable to anybody but him and now the climate bill. All of this is about nothing other than the acquisition of power and the ability to further regulate your privacy and behavior.

That's not that far from Rush suggesting that Obama should go back to Africa.