Paul Krugman's latest column describes the spite-based Republican opposition to Obama. Krugman cites several examples over the past 20 years of post-Reagan-era tactics. I think there's something else to it, though. There is a very strong sense of paranoia in the middle-america right wing activist. They all seem to believe there's something inherently unwholesome and sinister about Obama's motives (secret motives).
You could chalk this up to the same old anti-Democrat mentality (e.g. Whitewater), or the effect of Fox-news fear mongering. I think this misses the target, though. Fox helps grow doubt and suspicion of the Obama Administration, but that doubt has a natural base before Fox exploits it.
I believe that what scares these people most of all is Obama's lack of emotion and drama. The man is almost always as cool as a cucumber. This is very different from the images of the left to which we've grown accustomed. Most notably in recent memory: Howard Dean. Manic and goofy, a smiley nutjob. That image is still burned into our brains, and Obama directly contradicts that "knowledge" of what the left is.
We can adjust to this image in one of two ways. Either we revise our conceptions of what the left looks and sounds like, or we conclude that the man is simply very good at hiding his "true nature". Obviously the fringe Right has chosen the latter option. This assumption is an excellent breeding ground for suspicion and paranoia, because if the man is this good at disguising himself, there's no knowing what else he could be hiding...
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