You might be a terrorist if …

It sounds like the beginning of a joke. But to many Americans, a new Department of Homeland Security assessment of right-wing extremism is no laughing matter - and for good reason.

Despite the admitted lack of an imminent threat, the April 7 report warns that the recession and the election of the first black president could promote recruitment, radicalization and violence among dangerous groups.

You know: certain types of white people, veterans, Christians, gun owners, pro-lifers and opponents of big government, same-sex marriage, free trade and illegal immigration.

This kind of “profiling” is usually considered politically incorrect, especially among people who refuse to use the phrase “global war on terror” for fear of offending Muslims. Which is why, whatever its legitimate intent, the report has infuriated millions of otherwise peaceful Americans - including many in the crowd of 1,000 who gathered Saturday at the Allen County Courthouse.

Like most hurtful stereotypes, there is a grain of truth to this one: Right-wing militia sympathizer and veteran Tim McVeigh killed 168 people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and earlier this month a Pittsburgh man said to be influenced by racist ideology and anti-government sentiment allegedly killed three police officers.

But consider the reaction had the Homeland Security Department's Jan. 26 assessment of left-wing extremism - presumably completed mostly by the Bush administration - painted other groups with a similarly broad brush.

A black man said to be troubled by his lack of a job allegedly killed four police officers in Oakland, Calif., last month, but nobody was warned about the danger posed by so-called “urban rage” - even after many Oakland residents expressed support for the shooter, not his victims.

On the contrary, the potential sources of left-wing extremism - animal-rights activists and environmentalists, according to the report - are said to threaten mostly economic targets because of their “non-violent, ‘no harm' doctrine.”

Tell that to the 23 people injured and three killed by the Unabomber.

The “tea parties” in Fort Wayne and around the country have been viewed mostly as an economic protest, but I am convinced the movement is a response to something even more profound: a growing awareness that many in government - especially in Washington, D.C. - hold ordinary Americans and their traditional values in utter contempt.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized for suggesting that veterans are particularly susceptible to right-wing extremism, but that will not erase the nagging suspicion that the report unwittingly revealed the Obama administration's elitism - something the president himself displayed last year when he talked about Americans who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigration sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Like Napolitano, Obama later backtracked. Appropriate, since he, too, claims to support the Second Amendment and has questioned free-trade agreements.

Just for the record, I don't think that makes the president a potential terrorist. Other Americans deserve the same courtesy.

As the mostly white crowd at the courthouse cheered black conservative commentator Alan Keyes, there was nothing to suggest a racial motive for their concerns. Oh, sure, they did mention God and the people's right to abolish an unresponsive government. But they were quoting Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, not some goofy right-wing manifesto.

Unfortunately, the real issue here is not the Obama administration's apparent disconnect from much of the country it was elected to govern. Far more serious is the question raised by the release of the report in the first place. If you really want to control potential threats, it's not usually a good idea to let them know you're watching.

Since the vast majority of white people, Christians and gun owners aren't a threat, the harm is minimal. Too bad the same can't be said for the recent decision to release Bush administration memos detailing the interrogation techniques used against suspected terrorists.

Al-Qaida, on the other hand, is a threat and, thanks to this administration's unfortunate tendency to talk too much, its members now know precisely what we will not do to stop them.

That is a joke. But it's not funny, either.