Obama faces particular craziness

American politics has had a raucous, rough and tumble history, but it has seldom sunk lower than it did last week.
Now it is apparently acceptable to suggest that the president of the United States doesn’t love his country.
Now it’s apparently more important to portray the sitting president as “the other” — something alien, something different from you and me — than to behave with simple decency.
Do the people saying these things — and the list goes beyond Rudy Giuliani if you count the folks who lack the spine to disavow his comments — really believe what they are saying?
If they do, they ought to be embarrassed by their ignorance. If they don’t, they ought to be ashamed.
And by their behavior, they cast a shadow over what was once a great political party, the party of Lincoln once upon a time.
To their credit, some Republican leaders have stepped forward — Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Lindsey Graham among them — to draw the important distinction between differences in policy and political philosophy and questioning someone’s patriotism and love of country. Sen. John McCain got that one right as well during his campaign for the presidency.
But to a startling degree, the hucksters among the GOP’s spotlight-chasers have signed onto the Giuliani canard.
So, once and for all, does this president love his country? Of course he does. He’s expressed his love of country scores of times.
Does that mean he believes it to be perfect? Nope. He’s made that clear plenty of times as well. But any politician who tells you it is perfect is lying to you.
Is this president a Christian? Under our constitution, it doesn’t matter. But the fact is, he is.
Does that mean his version of Christianity is the same as everyone else who has ever attended a Christian church? Nope. There are as many flavors of Christianity as there are churches.
Does he believe that history always shows Christianity in a good light? Nope again. And the record on that is pretty clear.
Was this president born in America? Don’t even start with that nonsense.
The real question — job performance and policies aside — is why this particular president, unlike any other in our country’s history, merits this sort of craziness from the opposition. And the answer to that, unfortunately, is clear. — J.R.