[The election of President Barack Obama] provoked a hysterical backlash among those fearful and xenophobic whites who believe they are losing “their” country. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has documented explosive growth in white supremacist and anti-government organizations since Obama’s inauguration.
“The dramatic expansion of the radical right is the result of our country’s changing racial demographics, the increased pace of globalization and our economic woes. For many extremists, President Obama is the new symbol of all that’s wrong with the country, ” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the center…
That anti-Obama sentiment, which is fueled by reckless politicians on the right, is widely shared among ultraconservative whites who would never consider violence and who are appalled by the shooting of Sikhs at their place of worship. But those anxious white Americans also see in Obama an augur of a demographic shift they believe deprives them of their rightful place in the socioeconomic scheme.
