Posted by
Ed Lilly on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 7:27:42 AM
I sometimes enjoy listening to Michael Smerconish on Philly morning drive radio. His show in the afternoons was more enjoyable as it tended to be more focused on Philly issues and community - it was a "community" type of conversation that was always interesting and educational for someone new to the region.
The current version of his show is more "national" in scope, and while still civil and interesting, it can sometimes become just another version of all the other nationally syndicated political talk shows.
Still, yesterday morning Michael was discussing a column he wrote on how the current climate of political "hate" has him concerned for President Obama's safety. I called in to point out one problem I had with the analogy he was making, but unfortunately did not make it on the air due to time constraints and the end of the segment.
But I didn't want to lose the thought, so I sent Michael the email below, and post it for whatever entertainment value it may have:
Michael,
Enjoyed your discussion yesterday of your column on the current / ongoing political climate. I agree that much of the wild political rhetoric that has been thrown about in the past 20 or so years, through the Clinton, G.W. Bush and now Obama administrations, is not very productive or informative.
With regard to your column and analogy on the current political climate and concern that it is like Dallas in 1963, however, I had one problem. Unfortunately, I did not make it on the air yesterday, but did want to pass along this thought: for all the apparent right-wing "hate" that may have existed in the U.S. and Dallas in particular for President Kennedy in 1963 (and I'll have to take your word for it as it was before I was born and it's not a subject I have done any reading on), Kennedy was not killed by a John Bircher or nut from the 'right.' He was killed by a communist man of the left in the climate of all that "hate."
So in keeping with the theme of fringe political whackiness, let's throw out this soundbite: Maybe President Obama has more reason to be worried about a possible attack by a radical communist like Van Jones a la Trotsky in Mexico in 1940 than by right-wingers who object to his political agenda. ; )
Have a great morning.