By the time you read this, the President will already have addressed a joint session of Congress.  His willingness to negotiate and compromise with Senate Republicans has backfired.  The Republicans see the issue as a way to bring him down politically. Senator Jim DeMint (R, South Carolina) said it; “If we are able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo.  It will break him.”

The Lewin Group, a research-consulting firm owned by United Health Group, and widely parroted by the Republicans congressional leadership has orchestrated an effective misinformation campaign with outlandish claims that have lead to fear and hysteria.  They say health care reform would establish death panels for the elderly, drastically reduce your Medicare benefits, and ration the medical procedures for which you are eligible.  (AARP by the way disagrees.)  The health insurance industry, with billions in profits at stake, has marketed their lies with bumper sticker clarity.  No Death Panels!  Obama Lies, Grandma Dies! No Socialized Medicine! No Health Care for Illegal Immigrants!

Up to now Obama’s attempts to refute these distortions have been ineffective. He has addressed them intelligently but academically with detail and nuance.  His intellectual ability, however, has not worked. He has come over as lecturing, boring and pedantic.  His intelligence has become a weakness. Perhaps last night’s speech to Congress will have proved me wrong.

I readily admit that sometimes the President has put his own spin on the budget numbers and many question whether his proposals will produce as much savings as he states.  For many his numbers just do not compute.

Of course, there should be a debate on health care, but it should be civil and honest.  There are key questions of cost, malpractice and the extent of government involvement. The various options should be weighed and argued.  That has not happened.  Instead we have outlandish claims and name-calling epithets.  (Do any thoughtful citizens really think that our President is another Adolph Hitler?)

On his every initiative, the President faces such outlandish slander. His talk to schoolchildren is a telling example. In these insults I smell the stench of racism. A small percentage of Americans just cannot accept that we have elected an African American President -- and they oppose his every step.  Like Rush Limbaugh they do not want him to succeed.  They have created an atmosphere of hate in the country.  We can only pray it does not lead to violence.

Speaking of prayer – and violence, the Rev. Steven Anderson, Pastor of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona says he prays for President Obama’s death! He prays that the President will die of brain cancer like Ted Kennedy. Anderson says he is against violence, but one of his parishioners after hearing his sermon brought a semi-automatic rifle to a rally in Phoenix where Obama was addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  That was not the first time right wing extremists have brought guns to events when Obama was speaking.

We too should pray for our President, but unlike Pastor Anderson, we should pray that God will shield him from the fanatics, from the Birthers and the Deathers who cannot accept an African American as President of these United States.