Conservatives Cheered Reagan at The Wall; See Shadows of Nazi Past in Obama's Germany Visit

Posted by John Gorenfeld, Firedoglake at 10:15 AM on July 25, 2008.

While Obama was giving a pretty good speech in Berlin, conservative bloggers felt a cold breeze blowing across American history, reminding them of History Channel documentaries with names like Hitler: The Rise of Evil. While some were merely riled-up-as-usual by any country that doesn't speak English -- like NextRight's Patrick Ruffini, who's aggrieved that an event in Germany was publicized using handbills printed in German -- others plunged further into dread.

The leader of the huge blog Red State, writer Erick Erickson, can't believe Obama didn't pick up on the horrifying "military history" associated with the Victory Column, which the senator stood in front of, and which plenty of anti-Nazi Germans have spoken in front of, and which was built after the Prussians beat Denmark in an 1864 territorial war neither of us had heard of. Ejaculates Erickson: "He'll say anything and do anything to get himself elected." Will the MSM force Obama to admit that, as president, he will do nothing to stop Duke Frederick III from annexing duchies?

(Meanwhile, the Washington Post's Chris Cilizza, with a low estimate of the intelligence of the American public, wonders aloud if it will be somehow awful for Americans to see Obama cheered by our allies, the Germans.)

The Barack-as-a-Nazi idea has been big in the conservative world lately. At Free Republic and quite a few other sites, people who weren't bothered by the creation of the Starship Troopers-esque Department of Homeland Security are sweating over rumors that Obama wants to start a sinister secret police force.

It all started with a piece at WorldNetDaily, quoting an Obama speech in which the senator called for "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." Though Obama went on to talk about public service instead of martial law, and the Campaign Silo is pretty sure he was just improvising a bad metaphor, this has kicked off a variety of nightmare scenarios in the Right world.

"So if I enlist, will I be grandfathered into the Black Muslim - Nation of Islam , even though I'm white?" asks one poster. Another, "seanrobins," suspects it will "resemble the Mugabe militia in design and practice," just like the goons who work for Zimbabwe's dictator, with the Obama Corps coming to your house, taking your white person's property and laughing.

Tagged as: obama, germany, red state, berlin, patrick ruffini, chris cilizza, erick erickson, victory column