Saturday morning, an effigy of Obama was hanged in Plains, Georgia above a sign in honor of former President Jimmy Carter. The Secret Service is now investigating the incident. See video:

This is not the first time something like this has happened. In October 2008, during the presidential campaign, two students, whose names were graciously made public by the mainstream media, hung an effigy of Obama in response to the hanging of Sarah Palin in effigy. The students were arrested and charged. See video:

In Lexington, Kentucky, where the effigy was hung, there was a crowded forum of city, university, and community leaders that discussed this event and they unanimously condemned this act.

Now, let’s get back to reality for a moment. First of all, I think that it is in poor taste to hang an effigy of an elected leader or a candidate. That’s what the radicals do abroad and we should not be emulating them. Second, the above outrage and coverage by the media over these “acts” directed against Obama is something unique because during President Bush’s terms we had similar events that received little to no coverage. Bush’s effigy has been burned in celebration of Obama’s inauguration in Washington DC:

Burned at the stake in Alaska:

Pelted with shoes in DC:

The list goes on, but these are the more recent ones. The recurrent soundtrack to all of these events is laughter. The recurrent setting is America. The recurrent reaction from the media is little to none. Have we, as a country, decided that the symbolic destruction of one political figure is comical but doing it to another is absolutely wrong? I have not been able to find any reports that anyone was arrested for destroying, faux killing, or defacing a Bush effigy… while Obama effigy “hangers” have been sent to jail and are actively being pursued. Whether or not one agrees with the policies of one of our elected officials, is it right to hang or set ablaze effigies of them? I think it has gotten pretty ugly out there on both sides, but unfortunately the imbalanced media rarely shows the lefties gleefully setting fire to a doll of a “Republican” president, they specialize in generating outrage over the defacing of dolls of Democrats. Hanging effigies of Obama does little to advance the conservative cause, those who do it do conservatives a disservice. Hanging and burning effigies is something that the Left does, let them keep it. The difficult thing is when leftists hang effigies of leftists and blame it on the right… the only thing conservatives can do is consistently denounce these tactics. Conservatives’ principal weapon must be the vote and the only way to win votes is to win over hearts and minds. Faux executions of politicians may not be the best way of doing that.

-AG