Yes, I agree, his eventual apology retracted the whole shebang. Let’s hope people learn by his example. To actually address the OP: It becomes sedition somewhere beyond that, but I’m not sure where.
I am curious whether you are here trying to paraphrase the views of some right-wing extremists, or whether you, Bricker, agree with the “punish the successful” meme.
I don’t think anyone here has claimed that the printed retraction was “half-hearted.” But Coffman’s target voters do not read print. Did you watch the interview Coffman gave to a TV reporter? I didn’t think so. That’s the “apology” for which even “half-hearted” would be an absurd overstatement.
I was trying to capture the view of someone who would be motivated to call Obama non-American in his heart, and craft a defensible line of thinking that might motivate it.
My personal view is irrelevant, but since you ask: I seriously doubt Obama wants to punish the successful; I suspect, given his own success, he knows what a poor idea that is. Where he and I disagree is how much responsibility the successful have for the unsuccessful. In other words, I can’t believe he has the slightest desire to punish, but I do believe he favors policies that impose a duty that seems to say, in effect, we’re all family here, and successful family members owe it to less successful family members to pitch in and help.
And I agree that some such duty exists, but he and I draw the line for what help to provide in different places.
But of course, I’ve never said an insulting word against Obama in my life, so my opinion isn’t at all relevant to this question.
