Obama dangerously close to a 'Killer Rabbit' moment President heads for Martha's Vineyard vacation as unemployment lines grow John Kass August 19, 2011 Is President Barack Obama on the verge of being attacked by a bunny wabbit? Absolutely. All the signs suggest that Obama is in immediate danger of a rabbit attack. It would ruin what's left of his presidency. And it would horrify Democrats by ushering in, say, a President Bachmann. It might happen while he's on that ridiculous vacation of his. Obama is chilling at some exclusive multimillion-dollar estate on Martha's Vineyard, even as thousands more Americans hit the unemployment lines, and as Republicans like Michele Bachmann make wild-eyed, crazed claims about bringing back $2 per gallon gas. "I think it's a little too early yet for the president to be attacked by a rabbit," cautioned a veteran Chicago Democrat wise in the ways of Obama. "But it's close. Real close." Anyone who thinks Obama is safe from a rabbit attack has forgotten what happened to President Jimmy Carter In 1979. Carter was attacked by a swimming rabbit, and the subsequent "Killer Rabbit" stories helped destroy his presidency. It led to the election of Republican Ronald Reagan in a landslide and an unprecedented economic revival. There are eerie similarities. Like Obama, Carter was at that point where he was constantly viewed as weak and ineffectual. His fellow Democrats had lost patience with him. Liberal writers who once fawned on him had turned against him. And like Obama, Carter foolishly left the White House for a "vacation." Carter went home to Georgia for some fishing. Once his canoe hit the water of a pond, a terrible thing happened. A rabbit swam near with anger in its eyes. The story was reported by the Associated Press, and the papers picked up accounts of the "Killer Rabbit." Network news operations jumped on it too. Here's the top of the original story: WASHINGTON (AP) â President Carter beat back an attacking rabbit with a canoe paddle when it swam at him as he fished near his Plains, Ga., home last spring. He's got a picture to prove it, but the evidence is locked away at the White House. The White House declined to make public photographs of the president and the bunny. "There are just certain stories about the president that must forever remain shrouded in mystery," Deputy Press Secretary Rex Granum explained Wednesday." Because the White House refused to release photographs of the rabbit attack â and what president would want photographs released of him in a life-or-death struggle with a cute Peter Cottontail â the media was forced to use cartoons to illustrate the historic combat. One of the first cartoons was a parody of the poster for the popular movie "Jaws," except that instead of a shark, it was a rabbit with "Paws." And then Sen. Ted Kennedy, the famed swimmer of Chappaquiddick, took advantage of Carter's weakness and challenged him for the Democratic nomination. This image was carved into the national mind: A beleaguered president showing teeth and fear, wild-eyed, as the tiny little rabbit leaped in anger, just like that killer rabbit in that Monty Python movie. Folk singer Tom Paxton even wrote a tune about it, called "I Don't Want a Bunny Wunny." President Carter got into his boat; Wasn't in a hurry, wanted to float, Think about the country, think about sin. Along swum a rabbit, and he tried to climb in. And what did Jimmy say? "I don't want a bunny wunny in my little rowboat, In my little rowboat in the pond. For the bunny might be crazy and he'll bite me in the throat In my little rowboat in the pond." Another line in the song asked: If you were the president, how would you feel? But you know how you'd feel. You'd feel like President Chumbolone. The metaphor of the Killer Rabbit expressed weak Democratic leadership, much in the same way the way George H.W. Bush's ignorance about the price of a gallon of milk was used to demonstrate Republican insensitivity. Was it fair? No. It was politics. But since that time, whenever a president's job approval ratings are hitting bottom, someone invariably brings up the Killer Rabbit attack. It's been applied to Republicans and Democrats, and pundits are applying it to Obama with increasing frequency. Personally, I don't want our president molested by a cuddly mammal. It wouldn't be good for the country. And I wouldn't want to see the Chicago City Hall guys running away from Obama, shrieking, their hands up as they skedaddle to leave the president to confront the Killer Rabbit alone. But even with all the bad news, there's some good news for the president. He's not much of a fisherman. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0819-20110819,0,6139674,full.column
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