What Happened to Obama’s Passion

New York Times ^ | 6 AUGUST 2011 | DREW WESTEN

[mardi59]

Obama is still passionate about being president. It wasn’t being the first black president that concerned him, it was wanting the power and the perks that was his main goal. The luxury and rich trappings pale in comparrison to the bowing and scrapings of his leftist minions who have placed this dictator on a perestal far above we mere mortals.

Power is fleeting, damage can be rectified, and bad memories are soon forgotten, but records set down for the sake of posterity last forever. Obamas record will reverberate through time and show him to be the worst president was a complete failure. History will not be kind.

Once the WH doors close behind him in 2013, there will be no more applause, no more adoring fans. The lights will dim and hopefully he will fade into the darkness to enjoy the fruits of his failed legacy.

[mlocher]

THE real conundrum is why the president seems so compelled to take both sides of every issue, encouraging voters to project whatever they want on him, and hoping they won’t realize which hand is holding the rabbit. That a large section of the country views him as a socialist while many in his own party are concluding that he does not share their values speaks volumes ...

As a practicing psychologist with more than 25 years of experience, I will resist the temptation to diagnose at a distance, but as a scientist and strategic consultant I will venture some hypotheses. ...

A somewhat less charitable explanation is that we are a nation that is being held hostage not just by an extremist Republican Party but also by a president who either does not know what he believes or is willing to take whatever position he thinks will lead to his re-election.

I love it when these guys eat their own. However, the "blame Republican" theme still come through. One day these idiots may see that poor leadership and poor policies are the root of our political problem.

[al baby]

He got that from Cuss I would imagine

[Huskrrrr]

Someone hand this idiot a hanky.

[Baynative]

"...when faced with the greatest economic crisis, the greatest levels of economic inequality, and the greatest levels of corporate influence on politics since the Depression, Barack Obama stared into the eyes of history and chose to avert his gaze. Instead of indicting the people whose recklessness wrecked the economy, he put them in charge of it."

[Twinkie]

Do you have any graphic comics of Anthony Weiner? . . or Bill Clinton? . . or the latest Democrat sexscapade? (Who can keep up with them?)

Republicans always resign immediately when even the hint of scandal hits (amid Democrat yowls and howls of indignation I might add).

Democrats - not so soon - if ever. They get into therapy and snivel about how it was all the Republicans’ fault, and a set-up. (the foot tapping looked sort of suspect and odd to me, but you gotta get those pesky Republicans any way you can).

[dajeeps]

It is quite a mistake to take demagogy for passion. He just another one of those educated idiots running around that are driving this country into the ground for no other purpose but to serve themselves and their own egos at the expense of others.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

nothing says passion like always voting “present”

[stephenjohnbanker]

I met Mike in 1989.....uh no : )

[stephenjohnbanker]

LOL

[munin]

Passion???? HA....he’s such a bluffer....and nothing is REAL that he says....

You know those of us that read past the headlines knew he was just hot air and bluster with no substance, so who did he disapoint? not me, he has developed as expected, and now the world are seeing him as he really is to, hope enough people get it by the election so we can start to repair and rebuild, so don’t give up, keep working to educate the people, and good luck

[stephenjohnbanker]

Break?” He is the luckiest man who ever lived in Americaq.

I still think he is really Damian : )

[comebacknewt]

You got it.

He thought it would be cool to play President, and he has milked it for all its worth.

Reality has a funny way of eventually smacking people upside the head though.

[okie01]

Passion???? HA....he’s such a bluffer....and nothing is REAL that he says....

Ironically, the passion that is missing is the author's.

He invested his passion in the empty vessel that was Obama. And, now, he isn't getting what he expected.

The two-dimensional suit (with the razor sharp crease in his trousers) turned out to be a two-dimensional suit (with the razor sharp crease in his trousers).

As a good little liberal, Dr. Westen cannot himself ever be wrong. Nor can his liberal ideology -- the very source of his faith. So, it wasn't he who made the mistake of getting passionate about Obama. It isn't liberal dogma that has turned everything upside down. No! It is Obama who has failed him! And his faith!

This guy is a psychologist...and he can't cope with his own psychological delusions.

Yea, verily, there is a great angst upon the Liberal Hive these days.

The Left is going mad.

[hinckley buzzard]

If this guy is a psychologist then I am an astronaut. More like a pampered hire at a black college that has surrendered all standards except race and hatred.

[right way right]

Passion is for those that care.

[CitizenM]

What happened to the passion? As with all malignant narcissists, the more Obama became exposed for what he could not do and was not, the less he was able to fake it.

When a narcissist is "found out" he/she usually goes through a few cycles: First, blame everyone and everything for their failures. Secondly, get angry and vindictive. Thirdly, go away and try to reinvent themselves into a different character so they can find a new audience of fools who will adore the newly invented persona they have adopted. Now, these cycles overlap, but basically it is how narcissists act when they no longer can pull the wool over the eyes of those who they thought they were fooling so well.

What is happening with Obama is: 1)The blame game is getting old and he is being called on the carpet about that, even in the liberal media. 2) In his position, it is not as possible for him as for the ordinary person to throw a public tantrum...too many people are trying hard to control him and keep him quiet and calm (or drugged), so he is frustrated, thus becoming less passionate in his speeches, about issues, about his ideas, etc. 3) Then, because he cannot run away and hide to a place where no one knows him, he cannot go somewhere to lick his wounds while he works to become someone else, adopt another "identity" so to speak. So he feels trapped and, thus, he is depressed.

With all that is going wrong and all the truth about his incompetency that is being seen and discussed, there is little way for him to turn on the excitement button again. He is used up. He is burned out. As a narcissist, Obama never had good, strong internal resources of real self-assuredness. His cocky, smug, arrogant behavior has always been a cover for his inner feelings of inadequacy. Obama always counted on being able to get his narcissistic fix from others. Now that the supply has dwindled, so has his ability to pretend that he is as great as others told him he was.

This is why he has always been so sensitive to criticism, he cannot bear to hear that he is not loved by everyone, or thought the most intelligent, or the best thing since Corn Flakes. This is why there has been such pressure on the press by Obama's handlers to counter any criticisms. Those closest to Obama know that he just has no ability of his own to deal with hearing negative comments about what he does, how he does it, or what he did not do. They have tried to keep him protected, in some sort of bubble and have kept him pumped up with warm fuzzies. It is not working anymore.

Basically, last year he was in this same spot with depression. And, I believe, that is why Reid and Pelosi threatened Congressional members so hard to push through the Health Care Bill. They knew, and probably many others around Obama knew, that Obama was close to cracking. He needed the emotional boost of winning something. So, the HC bill passed, not because Reid and Pelosi cared about the health of the American people...it passed because they wanted to protect the emotional health of Obama.

But, here we are again. Obama's lack of leadership skills are even more glowingly evident. The objections are louder, more well organized, more on target, and the lies are more difficult to have people accept when the truths are glaring people in their faces. Obama can't even rally many of his far left wingers, let alone independents. He can't get people to agree. He can't come up with plans for a budget, or job creation. He has been an epic failure on his own, and only achieved what Reid and Pelosi could push through and pound away at for him.

No, there is no passion in Obama. There never really was. Obama was just a flat reflection of whatever he thought he should be. He never had real depth, real energy, and certainly no real love for America or the American people or the job he holds. Actually, I doubt that it ever really mattered to him whether he was adored for being our president. Throughout his life he has only wanted adoration for being - something - something that would set him apart and help him recover from the pains of not being anything important to his dysfunctional family. All Obama ever wanted, since he was abandoned by his father, then mother, and left with grandparents who, obviously, had little emotional concern for him, was to have a replacement for what he never had as a child...that is, acceptance for what he was.

To cover his hurt and pain, and confusion about his place, he created a phony persona. He created a "cool" exterior, learned to speak well, learned to fake interest and concern, and most of all learned to get ahead by charming gullible people like the snake oil salesmen did. Unfortunately, Obama never became discerning, because he had such a need to be liked... and so he allowed himself to be used by unscrupulous people who he believed could keep him insulated from ever being found out.

He never realized he would actually have to really work in the Senate, or really produce. And, he felt he was entitled to work even less once he became - president. After all, he believed that as the boss, everyone else does the work. That is why he appointed all those czars, and plays so much golf, takes so many vacations, and indulges in all the perks. Obama has never had a good work-ethic and never wanted to really roll up his sleeves and exhaust himself. But, again like a narcissist who exerts little effort, he has always wanted all the glory...and can't for one instant accept any of the blame. Oh yes, Val Jarret and pals tell us that Obama is not sleeping, that he is worried, etc. But it is not about America that he is worried or losing sleep. It is because he knows that the Emperor has been seen not wearing any clothes and he can't fool the people or even cover up anymore.

About the only passion he has left, that is natural to him, is the passion of fear. And he has lived with that all his life...it is the fear of exposure. Obama is afraid of being exposed for what he is not...for what he lacks, and afraid of all the lies being unraveled that were told to put him in the White House. That fear is rearing its ugly head in the loneliness of the Oval Office. And our country can only hope that we can survive until he is out of there.

[Blue Ink]

Can we all just stipulate that you’re not “eloquent” unless you write it yourself?

A. Lincoln at a battlefield in Pennsylvania — eloquence.

B. Hussein Obama at a teleprompter — ready to read the local news in a small city.

[RVN Airplane Driver]

Thanks....my friend...you speak with much wisdom..

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

The truly decisive move that broke the arc of history was his handling of the stimulus. The public was desperate for a leader who would speak with confidence, and they were ready to follow wherever the president led. Yet instead of indicting the economic policies and principles that had just eliminated eight million jobs,

Oh please! He never stopped repeating that mantra.

in the most damaging of the tic-like gestures of compromise that have become the hallmark of his presidency — and against the advice of multiple Nobel-Prize-winning economists — he backed away from his advisers who proposed a big stimulus, and then diluted it with tax cuts that had already been shown to be inert. The result, as predicted in advance, was a half-stimulus that half-stimulated the economy.

Maybe 5% stimulated, not half. And a bigger percent of union boondoggles would have been even less effective.

That, in turn, led the White House to feel rightly unappreciated for having saved the country from another Great Depression but in the unenviable position of having to argue a counterfactual — that something terrible might have happened had it not half-acted.