Roosevelt, Obama, and Stockholm

"Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas." [Tr: There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.] -- Napoleon I, after the retreat from Moscow in 1812. What is it about Barack Obama that holds and even commands a majority of likely voters as loyal, true believers and defenders? What makes people still say, "It's only been seven months, give the guy a chance," "We elected him so we must support him?" How is it that Obama can change his positions and his words, deny that he has done so, and still maintain his credibility?

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It seems to me that nationally we may all be experiencing, to one degree or another, a kind of "Stockholm Syndrome." It is a form of cognitive dissonance on a mass scale, an ability to seemingly resolve or live with gross contradictions through gross rationalizations. This syndrome was named after a 1973 bank robbery in Sweden where hostages of the bank robbers later defended the actions of their captors. Even though their captors had threatened their lives, the same captors maintained control of their hostages by showing small acts of kindness ... i.e., their human side. Heiress Patty Hearst attempted to employ the Stockholm Syndrome as a legal defense for why she participated in a bank robbery. She had been held a hostage of the radical, leftist Symbionese Liberation Army for two months in the early 70s [She was convicted]. More recently in the news this summer, Jaycee Lee Dugard, was abducted at age 11, held hostage for eighteen years, and even gave birth to two babies fathered by her abductor, prior to being rescued. Could we be experiencing a "National Stockholm Syndrome?" I hope not.

The premises of Biden's ridiculous claims are untenable, unsupportable, unmeasureable and not demonstrable

Still, I am struck to this day by how forcefully and speedily the Obama Stimulus Package was rammed down our throats. There was virtually no public disclosure and no transparency. There was no public debate at all, much less informed debate in Congress. We were simply told that there were massive numbers of "shovel-ready" projects that would immediately put America back to work, and that Unemployment would top out around 8 percent. The only shovels I see working are the ones shoveling manure in Congress and the in the White House while unemployment approaches 10 percent. Vice-President Joe Biden crows optimism. He constantly reassures us as to how bad things would be today had the Obama Stimulus Plan not passed. Nonsense. This is just another blatant attempt to deceive us through mis-information... a bone for the believer ... bread for the masses. The premises of Biden's ridiculous claims are untenable, unsupportable, unmeasureable and not demonstrable. It may sound good to say, "things would be worse if we had not acted," but there is no proof for wishful thinking. "Give it a chance..." ten years later, "Give it a chance. We inherited bigger mess from Bush than we thought." Joe, such a magnificent thought process is worthy of consideration for a 2009 "Darwin Award." The Administration claimed that the"Financial Crisis" was so dire as to require emergency funding and unprecedented authority. They were widely believed by the public. Nearly the same misrepresentations were used by the Bush Administration to pass the "first" stimulus. Obama wants to use the technique yet again with Obamacare. He and his merry band of Progressive Demagogues-in-Charge are now poised to jam National Healthcare down our throats through misapplication of the Reconciliation Process by Congressional Democrats mad to achieve victory and power at any cost. There is an old American saying, "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me." Is this the second time or the third time? The "Obamacare" entitlement will vastly expand the Federal Government's power and intrusion into our lives, reduce citizens' personal freedoms and consumer choices, create Government Entities that will choke out Private Enterprise, and deliberately create doctor shortages and rationed Healthcare. But Obama has in essence proclaimed, "We have nothing to fear but the fear mongers." Roosevelt likewise denigrated his political opposition as being blind and uncaring toward the "forgotten man." FDR's "forgotten man" was a man at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Obama has used the same tactics with similar results. He has further bifurcated and reinforced the same old class war wounds in our society deliberately created by Franklin Roosevelt for political gain. One theme I took from Amity Shale's book "The Forgotten Man" would be that FDR's seven years of tinkering and advancing of Federal Government programs did not solve the Great Depression. Indeed, FDR arguably complicated economic policy and extended economic misery unnecessarily with his tinkering. In short, FDR took a bad situation and made it worse, all the while telling us hopeful news through ""Fireside Chats and a well oiled propaganda machine. The "forgotten man," that FDR cited time and time again to justify government intervention, was in the end, the person who was forgotten. Shales starts each chapter of her book citing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the National Unemployment rate. I cite a few: In October 1929, just prior to the crash, the Dow stood at 343 and unemployment was heading toward 5 percent. In 1933, just before Roosevelt took office, the Dow stood at 93 and unemployment stood at 22.9%. In 1935, the Dow had recovered to 119 and unemployment averaged 21.3 percent. In 1937 the Dow stood at 179, unemployment at 15.1 percent. In 1940, with World War II raging in Europe and one year nearly two years prior to our formal entry into that war, the Dow had fallen to 151 and Unemployment stood at 14.6 percent. These are hardly achievements to crow about or to trumpet.

FDR and his New Deal did not rescue America from the Great Depression

Thus one can persuasively argue that FDR and his New Deal did not rescue America from the Great Depression. A a Full Employment War Mobilization Economy that began on December 8, 1941 did. But Progressives are true believers. Franklin Roosevelt is the Progressive-Liberal's god and Barack Obama is his prophet. Obama, taking a cue from the FDR's New Deal tactics and experiments is creating an ever larger, more onerous and repressive extension of the Federal Government. All the while, Obama throws bones to the public about how his Health Care Reform will extend coverage, provide more services, that we can keep our present insurance, ya-da, ya-da. As Amity Shales points out at the end of her fine book, Wendell Willkie, [FDR's 1940 Republican opponent] tried to correct and restore the image of the "forgotten man" and the New Deal's true record. The truth: the New Deal Experiment did not work. It resulted in a much prolonged Depression, and even a Depression with in a Depression in 1937-1938. Willkie posed that the true "forgotten man" is the one who works hard, but is never consulted, and rarely complains. He wants minimal interference in his life. He is the rugged individual who treasures his freedom and pushes the country forward, seeking to take his place in the great American dream. Gee, that seems to describe those "mobsters" and "right-wing nuts" and "astroturfers" that show up at Tea Parties. They have been pushed to the brink by an arrogant and over-reaching Administration and Congress. It is time to escape the grip of the Obama Syndrome folks. In the words of Howard Beale [actor Peter Finch] in the 1976 movie "Network": "I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore ... "