Christine M. Flowers: On Election Day, the words mattered

IT WASN'T their guns and religion that Americans were clinging to on Tuesday.

But it was to the conviction that President Obama was leading their country in the wrong direction. And to a realization that their voices, often derided by the so-called educated classes, would now have to be heard. They were clinging to the belief that no matter what those legions of editorial writers said, they were perfectly capable of making their own extremely well-informed choices about the leadership of the United States.

And, finally, they were clinging to the notion that you can oppose a president without being his enemy.

That's what a large percentage of Democrats don't seem to understand, even now, three days after the shock of Tuesday's results should have worn off.

When Obama told the host of a Spanish-language radio program right before the vote that Hispanic voters should "punish" their "enemies," you knew the election was spiraling out of his control.

Punish was a euphemism for "vote against," and enemies, of course, was directed at conservatives who were the architects of "racist" policies like the immigration law in Arizona. The benign community organizer who only two years ago was fluent in the language of unity was now speaking, en Espanol, of fear and division.

When he realized what a gift he'd given the Republicans, the president backtracked and said he should have said "opponents," not "enemies." But the damage was done. Ohio GOP Rep. John Boehner was able to use the comments as part of an effective stir-up-the-vote effort, highlighting for a lot of people that Obama didn't lack for an "us vs. them" mentality.

"Las palabras" (his fighting words) might even have wrung a few extra votes out of fence-sitting independents on Election Day.

But the most damaging effect of those unguarded comments is the revealing view it gave of our self-styled unifier. Obama inadvertently let his mask slip, and, for a brief but telling moment, we could gauge just how much he resented those who publicly and politically disagreed with him.

It happened before, on the 2008 campaign trail, when he made the infamous "guns and religion" comment or when he described his grandmother as a typical white woman. But back then, the junior senator from Illinois was saved by our basic unfamiliarity with his psyche and our willingness to believe in post-racial, bipartisan dreams.

Now, two years later, in the wake of so many opportunities (important and quasi-important) to measure his mettle (the health-care debate, Henry Louis Gates, Gulf oil spill, Ground Zero mosque) it's become clear that Obama is neither the Islamic foreigner some crackpots describe, nor the saintly and selfless patriot his supporters prefer to see.

Our 44th president is a man who has an excellent brain and a not-infrequently childish disposition and who thinks he knows what is best for everyone but has neither the patience nor the humility to deal with those who preach a different way. He's both brilliant - and exceedingly petulant.

His opponents sometimes aren't much better, of course. In politics, you always have to deal with the undisciplined and unmannered fellow who screams out in a public venue, "You lie!"

But the man who rode in on a wave of hope and change, accompanied by doves and butterflies, should be better than that. His "enemies" comment is only one example of how he really isn't.

It's not completely his fault. Our president has been spoon-fed the myth of his own exceptionalism ever since he first hit the national scene with a speech that urged us to follow our better angels and work together.

It was poetry, however, without conviction. Obama seems to confuse disagreement with his policies with attacks on his character. And that's why he meant what he said when he used the word "enemies." Many of the voters who cast their ballots Tuesday understood that.

Of course, Obama does have some reason to be bitter. Too many critics have dipped way down into the crazy bag to find reasons to vent. Note to the deluded: The president is a U.S. citizen. And a Christian.

BUT Obama has been so wrong on so many things, including how to get America back to work, what constitutes "rich," how people want to finance their health-care needs, whether Iran supports terrorists and on immigration (where I mostly agree with him). These, and many more, are legitimate areas of concern for Americans, so to suggest that criticism on these points comes only from "enemies" is outrageous.

So, as the president licks his wounds in the coming months, he should remember this: There are no blue states. There are no red states. There is only the United States.

Ring a bell?

Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer.

E-mail cflowers1961@yahoo.com.