[After President Obama decided not to go to Paris for the protest against terrorism, Republican Congressman Randy Weber tweeted:  “Even Adolph Hitler thought it more important than Obama to get to Paris. (For all of the wrong reasons). Obama couldn’t do it for [the] right reasons.”]

... Nothing in this attack makes sense, but—in choosing Hitler as his point of comparison—Weber has revived an erstwhile tradition of American politics: Comparing the president to Adolf Hitler. This was a part of life during the George W. Bush administration, and it picked up steam with Obama’s arrival on the national stage. Of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of examples, here are a few of my favorites.

Who thinks Obama is Hitler? Conservative columnist Thomas Sowell. A few days before the 2008 presidential election, Sowell penned a broadside against then–Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s call for “change” in American life. Warning that it could mean anything, Sowell pointed to examples of “change” that claimed millions of lives. “[M]any today seem to assume that if things are bad, “change” will make them better. Specifics don’t interest them nearly as much as inspiring rhetoric and a confident style. But many 20th-century leaders with inspiring rhetoric and great self-confidence led their followers or their countries into utter disasters. These ranged from Jim Jones who led hundreds to their deaths in Jonestown to Hitler and Mao who led millions to their deaths.”

There’s still time, but thus far, President Obama has not led hundreds of his followers to suicide or condemned millions of Americans to death.

Who thinks Obama and Hitler are pals? The Republican Women of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. In June 2009, the GOP group published a letter from its president, who explicitly compared the recently elected president to the Nazi leader. “Obama and Hitler have a great deal in common in my view,” she wrote. “Obama and Hitler use the “blitzkrieg” method to overwhelm their enemies. FAST, CARPET BOMBING intent on destruction. Hitler’s blitzkrieg bombing destroyed many European cities—quickly and effectively. Obama is systematically destroying the American economy and with it AMERICA.”