That the American Renaissance 2012 conference took place at all was a cause for minor celebration by the participants. The scientific racists, academics, lawyers and assorted white nationalists who attend these events had been frustrated for the several years by the anti-racists who had successfully protested their events, rendering it nearly impossible for them to fool a private hotel in a big city into booking their confab. So, this time the so-called racial realists retreated to the Tennessee woods. Specifically, American Renaissancers had to drive almost an hour west of the Nashville airport before they got to Montgomery Bell State Park, where they parked over the 16-17 March weekend. They were all pleased with the results: A quiet affair amidst beautiful surroundings with little noise intruding from the outside.

The National Policy Institute opened its Washington D.C. September conference with a direct invocation of Enoch Powell's infamous Rivers of Blood speech. Using video of recent riots in England with tape of Powell's 1968 speech, Richard Spencer, NPI's executive director, talked of the catastrophe that Latin, Asian and African immigrants have brought the white race. It is an avenue of thought that is well-trod in white nationalist circles. Nevertheless, the new prominence of National Policy Institute (NPI) is one more blot in a changing white nationalist landscape.

The presidency of Barack Obama dominated political events in 2009.  Whether it was discussion of the bank bailouts last winter or the continuing failure of the government to solve the problem of depression-era unemployment, the blame or success will be laid on the doorstep of Obama’s White House.  Whether or not Congress passes meaningful health care reform, it will be on this president’s watch.  After announcing an American troop surge in Afghanistan, this administration now owns that war. And whether the fortunes of the far right and white nationalist movements rose or fell during the past year, Barack Hussein Obama will be regarded—rightly or wrongly—as the cause.