No irony about the sick state of American politics is funnier than the fact that wing-nuts, no matter how far to the right Barack Obama tilts, continue to vilify him as the Great Satan of socialism and the bleeding-heart champion of the poor and unarmed.

Think about it. Our president approved the Fed’s transfer of vast sums to Wall Street banksters. He watched with apparent indifference as millions lost their jobs and/or homes because so much so-called stimulus money had gone to the banks and corporations. His record on the environment and human rights is appalling.

But the wing-nuts think Obama is a socialist who is trying to take away their guns, an absurdity that the NYT’s Timothy Egan explored yesterday:

When it became clear in the early fall of 2008 that Barack Obama, son of a Kansan and a Kenyan, would be the 44th President of the United States, many citizens rushed to their gun shops, stocked up on ammo and camo, and tried to fortify their nests with all manner of lethal weapons…

… Into the early months of the Obama presidency gun sales went though the roof. A nation of at least 200 million firearms reached for ever more, in a hurry and a frenzy.

And then, nothing. No legislation. No speeches about the ubiquity of guns in the most violent of Western democracies. Obama actually increased gun rights, signing a bill with a rider that allows people to pack loaded and concealed heat in national parks…

… There’s no serious case that President Obama is trying to take people’s guns. Guess what grade the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Obama after one year in office? He got an “F” for his gun stance, or lack of same. This after the N.R.A. predicted that he would be the most anti-gun president in history..

Obama has betrayed his core supporters. He has bent over backwards to demonstrate how unsympathetic he is on progressive issues and values. He has prostrated himself to Republican uglies such as Mitch McConnell every time he should have taken a principled stand. He has abased himself and made a mockery of the New Deal in hopes of winning the love of “independents” and, yes, wing-nuts.

Obama wants to be the right wing’s new Reagan but, no matter how hard he tries, they still call him Hitler.