Thread: The trauma of Obama: things are starting to feel spooky

COLUMN DU JOUR

The trauma of Obama

Robin of Berkeley: 'Even out here, things are starting to feel spooky'
--American Thinker



October 08, 2009
By Robin of Berkeley
152 Comments

A new, conservative friend cracks up when she hears my phone message. As a therapist, I'm required to state, "If this is a psychiatric emergency, please call 911."

Roaring with laughter, she says, "Robin, the whole country is having a psychiatric emergency!"

And she's right, because people running this country are off: off balance, off-world, off-putting, off their meds.

Gallows humor, a knot in your stomach when Obama speaks, poor sleep. Your body is telling you that something is wrong.

Even out here, things are starting to feel spooky. While it's always weird central in Berkeley, now there's a malaise in the air.

Yes, there are plenty of people so far into the communist schtick, they would gladly sacrifice their children, their granny, and their life savings for the Left.

But most liberals still want their houses, jobs, Hondas and iPods. When they voted for Obama, they weren't giving a thumbs up for the country to go the way of Ché.

So there's a strange, foreboding vibe in these parts; that creepy feeling you get when you know there's bad news ahead.

Many liberals look dazed and confused because they have no language, no information, no way of understanding what in the world is going on.

Interestingly, there's this eerie silence about Obama. You don't hear a peep about him. Or course, liberals are still foaming at the mouth about Sarah Palin, tea baggers, birthers, and all things conservative.

But adulation for Obama: Missing in Action. A telling sign: the life size black and white cardboard doll of Obama in a storefront near my office has been taken down. Where did it go -- to the local recycling center with other discarded Obamabilia?

Because I'm a psychotherapist, I'm intrigued by what goes on inside and outside. People not only suffer because of neurotic minds, but because of what people do to us when they abuse their power.

The family dramas, problems at work, or dysfunction in D.C. unnerve us. As Presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis, indelicately put it, "Fish rots from the head down."

We have people at the highest echelons of our government who may be rotting this nation. They espouse twisted notions of humanity, like de-evolution and forced sterilization. They eat, drink, and sleep revenge.

They are throwing much of this country, at least those of us who are paying attention, into a psychiatric emergency -- into trauma.

They dominate. They control. They terrorize.

They are abusers.

Which is no surprise if you understand where Obama comes from. He was not schooled in the Martin Luther King, Jr. tradition of unity and nonviolence, as most naive liberals thought.

Obama was educated in the Malcolm X way, the American political mafiosi: the Weatherman, Black Panthers, Black nationalists.

What were these groups' lesson plans? "Blue eyed devils," "Jewish dogs," "By any means necessary."

While the media and schools have whitewashed history, these groups were filled to the rafters with gangsters. Today's young radicals use sociopaths like Huey P. Newton as their role models, not the beneficent King.

So when Sarah Palin's life is threatened for speaking the truth, this is the work of thugs.

When Michael Savage is banned in Britain for passionately defending our country, this is persecution.

When citizens receive death threats for deigning to ask a question about health care, this is terror.

Some people think that Obama is just a harmless sheep in wolf's clothing because he doesn't raise his voice. If his underlings cause mayhem, well, that's not his fault.

But the best and the brightest of abusers never get their hands dirty.

Their work is done through a look, a blank stare, a grin, a devilish laugh. They can incite trouble without lifting a finger.

So if you feel uncomfortable, and tense, and scared, this is why. This is what abusers do.

They cause terror in us because of something old and something new. The old: memories get triggered of past trauma: our bad tempered parent, or abusive spouse, or bully boss.

The body remembers. Suddenly you are 6 or l3 or 30 again, and you may respond with the same helplessness and anger and panic.

But there's also new trauma, what's happening right underneath our noses; the never ending assaults on our freedom.

The daily force feeding of leftist ideology designed to control every aspect of our lives. The health care rationing that threatens our families. The strangling of business through Big Brother intrusions.

Joining with dictators; yawning when Iran and North Korea threaten; abandoning our allies. Indoctrinating our children and trying to turn them into the little Benedict Arnold's.

The trauma of Obama -- it's all around us, it may be in us if we're having symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (for instance, nightmares, intrusive images, numbing, physical symptoms, problems sleeping or eating).

But this isn't post traumatic, because there is no post here, and that keeps much of the nation in trauma/survival mode: fight, flight, freeze.

Fight: we're fighting back nonviolently through active participation;

Flight: we fantasize about fleeing;

Freeze: we can become frozen with fear, like a deer in the headlights.

Or a fourth reaction to danger, fawning: cow towing to Obama by doing his bidding. A Stockholm Syndrome, where the captive aligns with the abuser in hopes of winning favors.

There's a final "F," the most formidable one, the one taking root and flourishing all across the country: it's faith. Faith in a Higher Power or ourselves or the American system or its people.

Ordinary citizens rising up, like a phoenix. This awakening might prove to be Obama's most enduring legacy.

The miracle of a soccer mom attending a protest for the very first time; an elderly man bravely stepping up to the mike at a Town Hall; strangers forming life long bonds at Tea Parties or online, at sites like American Thinker. People like me snapping out of the leftist trance.

In time, the Trauma of Obama may be overshadowed by the Mock of Barack: people speaking up, from Bozeman to Boise to Boston -- and refusing to become one of Obama's hench men or victims.

When I behold the courage and dignity of my fellow citizens, I recall a powerful Buddhist tale:

The cruelest, most violent Samurai in Japan decides he wants to become enlightened. He bursts into the home of an esteemed Zen Master and demands that the Master teach him how to become enlightened.

The Zen Master looks deeply into his eyes and says, "No. You are a dirty, vicious Samurai. I will not teach you."

Enraged, the Samurai yanks out his sword and places it right at the Zen Master's neck. He hollers, "Do you have any idea who I am? I am the cruelest Samurai in the world. I can cut your throat and not blink an eye."

Without skipping a beat, the Master calmly responds, "Do you have any idea who I am? I can let you slit my throat and not blink an eye."

The Samurai falls to his knees, sobbing, overcome by the presence of a man mightier than his sword.

Those of us who are paying attention know the truth. With our eyes and hearts and minds wide open, we see them; we're on to them.

Emboldened by faith and righteous anger, we confront the Powers that Be.

Carrying our children's future; sheltered by the strong arms of our forbearers; awash with grace; we speak in one thunderous voice.

We say,

"We know who you are.

"Do you have any idea who we are?"

(You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.)
(Maya Angelou)

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/ ... obama.html

Wow! What a POWERFUL essay! I love it when a writer is this articulate and expressive.

This is a wonderfully written article and the point is well-taken.