Fire on the Right

Abstract

Many Americans believed that the 2008 election of Barack Obama would usher in a new era in race relations. Instead, the increased competition represented by his victory, combined with the economic stagnation of the Great Recession, gave rise to the Tea Party Movement. The Tea Party is the latest in a long line of radical conservative revolts to be fueled by White nationalism. Tea Partiers—the overwhelming majority of whom are White, male, and staunchly conservative—are dissatisfied with government and categorically reject Obama, as they believe him to be both un-American and dangerously foreign.

Keywords:

• Americans for Prosperity
• Barack Obama
• Birthers
• FreedomWorks
• Tea Party Express
• the Tea Party
• White nationalism

Notes

Michael D. Shear, “Best Political Quotes of the Weekend,” New York Times, April 11, 2011. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/best-political-quotes-of-the-weekend-8 (accessed July 28, 2012).

Peter Hamby, “Despite a Frustrated GOP, Anti-Obama ‘Birthers’ Still Persist,” CNN, May 23, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/23/politics/birthers-arizona-iowa/index.html (accessed July 28, 2012).

Adia Harvey Wingfield and Joe R. Feagin, Yes We Can? White Racial Framing and the 2008 Presidential Campaign (New York: Routledge, 2010).

Gallup asked the survey respondents, “Do each of the following describe or not describe your reaction to Barack Obama being elected president?” They were then read the following words: proud, optimistic, excited, pessimistic, and afraid. Frank Newport, “Americans See Obama Election as Race Relations Milestone,” Gallup, November 7, 2008. http://www.gallup.com/poll/ 111817/americans-see-obama-election-race-relations-milestone.aspx (June 24, 2011).

Christopher S. Parker, Mark Q. Sawyer, and Christopher Towler, “A Black Man in the White House? The Role of Racism and Patriotism in the 2008 Presidential Election,” DuBois Review 6, no. 1 (2009): 194; Hanes Walton, Jr. and Robert C. Smith, American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom, 5th Edition (Boston: Longman, 2010), 138; Andra Gillespie, “Judged by His Actions: How President Obama Addressed Race in the First Six Months of His Administration,” Journal of Race and Policy 6, no. 1 (2010): 11. Also see Joseph McCormick and Charles Jones, “The Conceptualization of Deracialization in African American Urban Politics,” in Georgia Persons, ed., Dilemmas of Black Politics (New York: HarperCollins, 1993).

Michael Tesler and David O. Sears, Obama's Race: The 2008 Election and the Dream of a Post-Racial America (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010), 6.

Ronald W. Walters, White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Public Policy and the Black Community (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003).

Walters did not attempt to calculate how many Americans are White nationalists, as such a thing is difficult to quantify. Nor did he claim that White conservatives and White nationalists are always the same. In addition, Walters never maintained that all Whites were conservative or nationalists. Finally, it is worth noting that some Whites have rejected the benefits of skin privilege in order to advocate for social justice. Ibid., 21, 26.

Ibid., 26.

Ibid., 21–22.

Shannon Travis, “Tea Party at Second Anniversary: What Happens Next?,” CNN, February 14, 2011. http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/25/tea.party.anniversary/index.html (June 21, 2011).

“The 2010 Republican Comeback: How it Developed,” New York Times, November 4, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/politics/20101104-CAMPAIGN.html (November 1, 2011); Chris Good, “Signs of the Times: Slogans and Images from the Tea Party Rally,” The Atlantic, September 13, 2010. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/signs-of-the-times-slogans-and-images-from-the-tea-party-rally/62885 (November 1, 2011).

“Signs of the Times: Tea Party Protests,” Black Enterprise, July 15, 2010. http://www.blackenterprise.com/2010/07/15/signs-of-the-times-tea-party-protests (August 17, 2011).

Even former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee commented, “One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, (is) very different than the average American.” The president eventually released the long form of his birth certificate. Philip Elliot, “Fact Check: Huckabee Claims Obama Grew Up in Kenya,” Yahoo! News, March 1, 2011. http://news.yahoo.com/ huckabee-wrongly-says-obama-grew-kenya-20110301-115817-303.html (March 2, 2011).

“Beyond Red vs. Blue: Political Typology,” Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, May 4, 2011. http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/Beyond-Red-vs-Blue-The-Political-Typology.pdf (July 19, 2011).

Kate Zernike and Megan Thee-Brenan, “Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Education,” New York Times, April 14, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/ 15poll.html (July 26, 2011).

David Barstow, “Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on the Right,” New York Times, February 16, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16teaparty.html (July 26, 2011).

Amy Gardner, “Gauging the Scope of the Tea Party Movement in America,” The Washington Post, October 24, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/ 23/AR2010102304000.html (July 26, 2011); “An Up-Close Look at the Tea Party and Its Role in the Midterm Elections,” The Washington Post, October 24, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-srv/special/politics/tea-party-canvass (July 26, 2011).

“About Americans for Prosperity,” Americans for Prosperity, 2011. http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about (December 24, 2011); Jane Mayer, “Covert Operations: The Billionaire Brothers Who are Waging a War against Obama,” New Yorker, August 30, 2010. http://www.newyorker.com/ reporting/2010/08/100830fa_fact_mayer (August 17, 2011).

“Tea Party Express,” Tea Party Express, 2011. http://www.teapartyexpress.org (December 25, 2011); “Players Guide: The Tea Party Express,” FactCheck, October 6, 2010. http://www.factcheck.org/2010/10/tea-party-express (November 2, 2011).

Shannon Travis, “Tea Party at Second Anniversary: What Happens Next?,” CNN, February 14, 2011. http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02/25/tea.party.anniversary/index.html (June 21, 2011); Chris Good, “The Tea Party Movement: Who's in Charge?,” The Atlantic, April 13, 2009. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/04/the-tea-party-movement-whos-in-charge/13041 (June 21, 2011).

The previous record was established in the period from November 1944 through September 1945, when the U.S. economy had a net loss of 4.3 million jobs. Christopher J. Goodman and Steven M. Mance, “Employment Loss and the 2007–09 Recession: An Overview,” Monthly Labor Review Online, 134, no. 4 (2011): 3.

Newport, “Americans See Obama.”

Walton and Smith, American Politics, 173.

“Polling the Tea Party,” New York Times, April 14, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/ 2010/04/14/us/politics/20100414-tea-party-poll-graphic.html (July 26, 2011).

Charles A. Gallagher, “Color-Blind Privilege: The Social and Political Functions of Erasing the Color Line in Post Race America,” Race, Gender, & Class 10, no. 4 (2003): 22–37.

Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, “Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing,” Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, no. 3 (2011): 217.

Jennifer Steinhauer, “Black and Republican and Back in Congress,” New York Times, November 5, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/us/politics/06house.html (December 29, 2011).

“Polling the Tea Party.”

Michael Finnegan, “Obama Expresses Regret for Remarks,” Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2008. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/13/nation/na-obama13 (December 30, 2011).

Zernike and Thee-Brenan, “Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Education.”

“Beyond Red vs. Blue,” 66.

Hamby, “Despite a Frustrated GOP, Anti-Obama ‘Birthers’ Still Persist.”

“Polling the Tea Party.”

Zernike and Thee-Brenan, “Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Education.”

Ibid.

Angie Maxwell, “Tea Party Distinguished by Racial Views and Fears of the Future,” Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics & Society, n.d. http://blairrockefellerpoll.uark.edu/5295.php (June 21, 2011).

“Up-Close Look at the Tea Party.”

Brian Montopoli, “Richard Lugar loses primary to Tea Party challenger Mourdock,” CBS News, May 8, 2012. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57430488-503544/richard-lugar-loses-primary-to-tea-party-challenger-mourdock (July 31, 2012).

Frank Newport, “Republicans See Gingrich, Romney as ‘Acceptable’ Nominees,” Gallup, December 5, 2011. http://www.gallup.com/poll/151325/Republicans-Gingrich-Romney-Acceptable-Nominees.aspx (August 14, 2012).

Frank Newport and Jeffrey M. Jones, “Gingrinch 37%, Romney 22% Among GOP Voters Nationwide,” Gallup, December 6, 2011. http://www.gallup.com/poll/151355/Gingrich-Romney-Among-GOP-Voters-Nationwide.aspx (August 14, 2012).

Grover Norquist, “Paul Ryan knows Democrats' tax tricks,” USA Today, August 12, 2012. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-12/norquist-ryan-budget-reagan/57015084/1 (August 13, 2012); Katie Glueck, “Rush Limbaugh: Paul Ryan is ‘Us,’” Politico, August 13, 2012. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79674.html (August 14, 2012).

“2008 Presidential Campaign Finance,” The Federal Election Commission, n.d. (July 31, 2012). http://www.fec.gov/disclosurep/pnational.do.

Tahman Bradley, “Final Fundraising Figure: Obama's $750 M,” ABC News, December 5, 2008. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6397572 (July 31, 2012).

Kenneth P. Vogel, “Karl Rove vs. the Koch Brothers,” Politico, October 10, 2011. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65504.html (July 30, 2012).

“2012 Presidential Campaign Finance,” The Federal Election Commission, n.d. (July 31, 2012). http://www.fec.gov/disclosurep/pnational.do.

Chris Wilson, “The Growth of the Tea Party,” Slate, April 15, 2010. http://labs.slate.com/articles/growth-of-tea-party (July 31, 2012).

Walters, White Nationalism.

Tom Cohen, “Obama Administration to Stop Deporting Some Young Illegal Immigrants,” CNN, June 16, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/15/politics/immigration/index.html (August 14, 2012).