The Obama Syndrome

This article appeared on the American Thinker blog:

April 29, 2010


The Obama Syndrome

By Robin of Berkeley

I've outed myself as a conservative to only two friends -- both old-style liberals who reside in other states. One has been accepting (though she owes me big time after treating me badly a few years ago). The other one, my childhood friend Amy, has reacted in typical liberal fashion: disgust, disappointment, and avoidance of all things political.



But given that Amy lives in Arizona, I thought I'd get her take on the new bill tightening restrictions on illegals. Since at least 70% of Arizonians support the bill, I hoped that my old pal would be among them.





While Amy usually takes a while responding to e-mail, she shot back a response this time. "I'm very unhappy about the bill," she said. "I hope that the feds overturn it."





I felt like writing back, "I wonder what Chandra Levy's parents think of it."





Chandra Levy was a lovely young woman murdered at age 24 while jogging in D.C. Although her secret lover, former Congressman Gary Condit, was suspected originally, the police eventually arrested an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. My friend Amy has a beloved daughter around the same age as Chandra.





Most liberals, like Amy, envision illegals as those pleasant maids or house-painters who could do no harm. And that benign image often is accurate.





But there are numerous Americans who've learned the darker side of illegal immigration. The families of Chandra Levy and, more recently, Arizona rancher Robert Krentz have been victimized by sociopaths from south of the border. Other citizens have seen their kids destroyed by drugs from Mexico or Colombia.





But the public doesn't get to hear much about the wreckage, except for a quick news flash when tragedy occurs. The rest of the time, there's silence in the service of political correctness. Even when a virulent new flu strain threatens to cause worldwide casualties, no one dares call it by its source of origin -- the "Mexican flu."





Given the times, what Arizonians did was amazingly gutsy. They said the unthinkable: that law-abiding Americans suffer when law enforcement is not allowed to actually enforce laws. And -- most taboo of all -- that Americans matter.





Americans aren't supposed to count; we've been conditioned to relinquish any and all needs. This government mandates compulsive niceness at all costs. Consequently, we've been transformed from a blunt-talking nation to Codependents Anonymous.





Illegals importing drugs or robbing and raping is no big deal. The most heinous crime these days is not being nice. This government, in fact, demands it, and refuseniks are targeted and demonized.





The fear of being marked a meanie keeps much of the country straitjacketed. The Left is behind this: They know how to control people through terror. Consequently, liberals may sacrifice their health, their wealth, even their own children to avoid the scarlet letter "M" (for "Mean") plastered on their foreheads.





Of course, what we're not supposed to say out loud is that criminals, and those who enable them, are the actual evildoers. But in this topsy-turvy world, those of us who balk are blasted as villains.





I wonder if garden-variety liberals like Amy know deep in their hearts that illegals clogging up ERs, crowding schools, or committing heinous crimes is a bad thing. If so, why do liberals just follow the leader?





I think it's partly wishful thinking: Amy and others are holding on for dear life to those illusions of hope and change. Reality bites when it comes to accepting the truth about Obama.





But there's another reason: With the radicals in charge, liberals may be stricken with a pathological case of niceness that resembles Stockholm Syndrome. Perhaps the newest incarnation of Stockholm Syndrome is the Obama Syndrome.





As you may recall, in Stockholm, bank employees were kidnapped and locked in a bank vault for days. Given their psychological ordeal, they became blindly obedient to their captors. Once rescued, the victims refused to testify against the perpetrators. One woman actually became engaged to a kidnapper.





With extraordinary trauma, a person can dissociate and appear almost robotic. In severe cases, he or she may even develop an alter part, much like a multiple personality. For instance, after weeks of being subjected to violence and isolation, Patty Hearst morphed into Tania.





Tania joined with her captors as a willing partner in crime. Once successfully deprogrammed, Tania again became Patty.





To survive in this scary new world order, pleasing Barry may be a matter of life and death. Perhaps this is why most Democrats still support a president who is bankrupting us, and why liberals will endanger their own children through perilous schools or freewheeling immigration. By being good foot soldiers, liberals think they're safe.





Of course, Stockholm/Obama Syndrome will not ultimately work. Enabling bad behavior only emboldens the criminals -- whether on the streets or in the government.





Plus, the Left is notorious for eating its own. Just ask those Jewish Obama voters who are discovering that progressives are loyal to no one save themselves.





Fortunately, brave patriots are taking to the streets and speaking truth to power. Tea partiers have taken breathtaking risks for freedom. Americans are letting leftists know that demanding safety for this nation makes us honorable, not mean.





Conservatives are bravely exposing the scam of progressivism, how it manipulates people to act against their own best interests. The real meaning of PC is not Political Correctness -- it's Political Control. And, frankly, we've been PCed on for long enough.





A frequent AT contributor, Robin in a recovering liberal and a psychotherapist in Berkeley