As far as I can tell they hated Obama not for what he did, said or believed. Those things were quite middle of the road.
They hated him for what he was.
They hated him for what he was.
color bait.
Obstructionism as a core tenet of the (former) Republican platform is reprehensible, and retrospectively probably led to quite a bit of discontent with the government’s inability to address problems that Americans face. That same discontent fomented the current reactionary swing, so in the end maybe they really got what they wanted. Shameful.