Frank Rich: All the President’s Captors

[XemaSab]

THOSE desperate to decipher the baffling Obama presidency could do worse than consult an article titled “Understanding Stockholm Syndrome” in the online archive of The F.B.I. Law Enforcement Bulletin. It explains that hostage takers are most successful at winning a victim’s loyalty if they temper their brutality with a bogus show of kindness. Soon enough, the hostage will start concentrating on his captors’ “good side” and develop psychological characteristics to please them — “dependency; lack of initiative; and an inability to act, decide or think.”

This dynamic was acted out — yet again — in President Obama’s latest and perhaps most humiliating attempt to placate his Republican captors in Washington. No sooner did he invite the G.O.P.’s Congressional leaders to a post-election White House summit meeting than they countered his hospitality with a slap — postponing the date for two weeks because of “scheduling conflicts.” But they were kind enough to reschedule, and that was enough to get Obama to concentrate once more on his captors’ “good side.”

And so, as the big bipartisan event finally arrived last week, he handed them an unexpected gift, a freeze on federal salaries. Then he made a hostage video hailing the White House meeting as “a sincere effort on the part of everybody involved to actually commit to work together.” Hardly had this staged effusion of happy talk been disseminated than we learned of Mitch McConnell’s letter vowing to hold not just the president but the entire government hostage by blocking all legislation until the Bush-era tax cuts were extended for the top 2 percent of American households.

The captors will win this battle, if they haven’t already by the time you read this, because Obama has seemingly surrendered his once-considerable abilities to act, decide or think. That pay freeze made as little sense intellectually as it did politically. It will save the government a scant $5 billion over two years and will actually cost the recovery at least as much, since much of that $5 billion would have been spent on goods and services by federal workers with an average yearly income of $75,000. By contrast, the extension of the Bush tax cuts to the $250,000-plus income bracket will add $80 billion to the deficit in two years, much of which will just be banked by the wealthier beneficiaries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/opinion/05rich.html

[enough]

1. Max Keiser recently compared Obama to Patty Hearst, which, if you are as old as I am,

really rings a bell.

[XemaSab]

2. The second comment reads, in part:

Apparently we didn't realize that we were electing a dead-eyed hostage who would be dragged along aimlessly on a chain by his thuggish captors, muttering occasional bromides about "hope" and "staying the course." Audacious indeed. Patty Hearst without the machine gun and the nerve. And while the current Republicans resemble in their madcap scheming the worst tendencies of the SLA, they do lack that peculiar cult's dark charm and machismo.

Anyway, we're stuck with these characters for two more years so we can look forward to another day-by-day countdown similar to the drawn out Iranian crisis of thirty years ago; and perhaps the New SLA will allow Barack to appear in a few staged videos for the folks back home.

[RandomThoughts]

3. There are some people that surrendered their ability to think and feel.

Then they become something else. But the person is still in there in that case. And I am not saying that happened to any individual like Politicians or CEOs. And of coarse not saying it is true about President Obama or any other individual.

The problem is getting out of that mode is really tough, since the bad things try to hang on to you with various intimidation through fear and confusion. When Huckabee said he did not want to go through the storm, I did guess he had Stockholm syndrome. But that is from a direct comment he made.

But it happens to people.

That is the meaning of 'wake up' where you have glimpses of clarity that let you see and think again, and then a battle through a storm to start to feel and think again.

Also the meaning of a Twilight Zone episode where a group used black magic to put a group of people to sleep.



However I have to constantly ask myself am I asleep or aware? So I try to think and feel on arguments for and against my position to make sure I am really thinking and feeling what is best.

[Creative]

4. Well, it is clear that Rich is not an economist.

"That pay freeze made as little sense intellectually as it did politically. It will save the government a scant $5 billion over two years and will actually cost the recovery at least as much, since much of that $5 billion would have been spent on goods and services..."

Where does Rich think the money that the fedgov spends on salaries comes from?

Clearly, Rich has strayed too far from his field of expertise (theater criticism).

[Doctor_J]

5. I look forward to learning, over the next 10 years, whether the president

was indeed weak and cowardly, or whether he was a willing accomplice in applying the coup d'gras to American democracy.

[flyarm]

7. I would bet on the latter.eom

[SpiralHawk]

6. "Keep dope alive. Smirk." - RepublCORP

[democrank]

8. As usual, Frank Rich is right on the money.

A "bogus show of kindness" indeed by President Obama`s good "friends" across the aisle.

What a heartbreaking squandered opportunity for change after the sickening presidency of Junior Bush.

[KharmaTrain]

9. The Beltway Bubble Defined...

President Obama came to office with this ideal that he could somehow rise above the decade of bitter partisanship inside the beltway and somehow make everyone happy. He grossly underestimated both the beltway and the desire in the country to unite. It's not there. We have two very distinct views of how this country should be and there's little common ground. Those that attempt to mediate or crossover are run over...usually from the right wing and its stenographers in the corporate media.

It used to be that after an election both parties would make an attempt to find common ground...things that could be accomplished before the divides set it, that's not the case now. Even before President Obama took office he was under attack and the unhinged wing of the GOTB took control...when Rushbo cracked the whip, they all fell in line and the obstructionist game was on. They played rope-a-dope with this administration...someone would say they were open to compromise and this administration would jump at the chance only to be sucker punched. It's happened so many times that as well as Stockholm Syndrome, this administration is now punch drunk.

The inside beltway games have distorted this administration's communications with the rest of the country...playing to the 24/7 news cycle. They react rather than lead...letting the rushpublicans define the debates and then cave in in some conveluted perception that they're showing strength. It truly is a baffling situation and one that is creating a lot of angst and dissent on this side of the sandbox.

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. Sadly, I think Rich nailed the situation completely.

Sure, there are some elements that are very distasteful (even mentioning Christie made it hard to eat my breakfast) - but the principles that Rich laid out, I think, are right on the money. Again - regrettably.