I just saw on his show, Bill O’Reilly say that there are many things about President Obama that are “scary.” O’Reilly wants people to see him as a reasonable conservative. And indeed, in the current environment of conservatives, he does seem moderate. But calling the President “scary” is the same as calling him “the other.” I’m sure that he never called Bush “scary.” The use of that word is not a statement of policy differences. It is part of the conservative movement’s push to define Obama as an outsider—as someone who isn’t really American. That is what the birth certificate nonsense is all about. And that is what “scary” is all about.