Outside the U.S. Post Office in Bothell Tuesday, there were two men standing outside the door holding “Impeach Obama” signs. At first, I was all for their practice of their right to free speech, I remember seeing the same thing during the Bush Administration. But then I saw the picture of Obama with a Hitler mustache and felt sick to my stomach. Apparently some people don’t know when to keep their sick thoughts in their own heads.

What compelled them to park themselves in front of a public establishment on a beautiful snow day, prop up their hideous signs and talk trash about our President just loud enough for passersby to hear?

I ignored them to the best of my ability and when one of them asked me to come over and talk to them, I firmly replied, “No thank you.” But I had plenty more I could have said to them, ample questions I could have asked:

How did you arrive at the comparison between a murderous dictator and our president? Do you have Jewish friends? Are you a Nazi, a racist? How does implementing a national health-care plan make Obama comparable to Hitler and how can you stand here and claim that it does? Were you a Bush supporter? A Republican? What religion do you practice? What exactly are you trying to accomplish by being here today?

I regret the fact that the same amendment of the Constitution that gives me the freedom to write and publish this also gives them the right to hold those signs in public.

Their message was disrespectful and sinister and furthermore, they’re cowards.

Instead of standing on a busy street corner like anti-war protestors have done in the area, these two men decided to stand in front of the local post office and harass anyone who happened to walk by. I guess the force of this viewpoint is not so strong after all and not worth any attention they get.

Honestly, I feel sorry for them. They are so full of hate that they feel the same hatred toward Obama that many others feel toward Hitler. What are we supposed to say to these people? Do we tell them how repulsed we are? Get in their face and bombard them with questions? Or do we just ignore them?

Never in history has there been a U.S. president that was in any way comparable to Hitler. He was the epitome of hate and racism. The presence of these two men at the Bothell Post Office today was a blemish on an otherwise lovely day in our small town.

Hillary Sanders, Bothell