Ideology vs. Fact and the anti President Obama Agenda on the Right

I was having a spirited Facebook discussion regarding politics today with a person of the Tea Party persuasion. The discussion was broad and one topic was Libya. I asserted that the US has turned handling of the situation over to NATO, which, while pretty heavily influenced by the US, still is a multination organization. The US is not solely responsible for the military action there, like, say, in Iraq. The response:

Theresa, you are still ignoring the fact that Obama made the decision to go to war without congressional approval... Only Congress has the authority to declare war. Bombing another country is war no matter how you look at it.Prove that another President dropped bombs without Congressional Approval. I don't think you can.

So, I got to thinking. What about President Clinton and Kosovo? George Bush and Somalia? It has actually happened quite a few times. Read about it in a recent New York Times article here.

Game, set, match.

Was the fact ignored or did the person just not know it? Who knows....It seems to me though, that lately, much of the agenda and talking points for the Right can be boiled down to this-Do and believe and say the opposite of what President Obama's administration does and says. I can bet that this person would probably be screaming about Mr. Obama not protecting US interests abroad had he not intervened in Libya. Oh and some GOP leaders were actually pissed when the US relinquished control to NATO. You can't make these people happy. They willfully ignore facts to try and undermine and demonize the President.

I admit, the vitriol in politics is staggering and existed long before President Obama. But, I get the distinct impression that the politicians on the right, made up almost entirely by white individuals, are more vicious with this President because he is black. I forever get the impression that they want to call him boy or that the N word is on the tip of their tongues. They go out of their way, right down to outright lying, to try to make this President appear unintelligent and ill equipped to lead because they can not stand that there is a black man sitting in the oval office.

In my reading on the subject of racism, I've often read that one of the most frustrating things for African Americans and all minorities regarding modern racism is the inability or refusal of white society to recognize white privilege. It seems to me that while some may argue that the GOP reaction to President Obama has more to do with his policies than his race,  that it actually has everything to do with his race. And those of us who have never experienced racism may have a handicap in recognizing when we ourselves are being racist. That is being positive though, I truly believe that a lot of those white men running the show on the right are racist and misogynist.

Anyway, my sparing partner quit the match with a comment about going to read Atlas Shrugged....don't even get me started on the stupidity of comparing the antigovernment and consumerism of main character John Gault to Tea Partiers. These peoples us crazy.