November 11, 2009He's a real nowhere man,Sitting in his Nowhere Land,Making all his nowhere plansfor nobody. . .He's as blind as he can be,Just sees what he wants to see,Nowhere Man can you see me at all?(Lennon, McCarthy)
I used to have a friend with a few screws loose. But you'd never know it.
Barbara would dress impeccably in designer wear, and her house resembled a museum. She was a professor, tops in her field.
But
behind the impressive image, all wasn't right. She said she loved her
son, Noah, but acted like he didn't exist. A single parent, Barbara
wouldn't hesitate to introduce Noah to her boyfriend of the month.
She skipped some of his meals, claiming that she was too busy to cook.
Barbara
called me her best friend. But she'd cancel dates at the last minute
for no good reason. And she always flaked when I needed her.
Even
though Barbara looked perfectly normal, there was something awry.
Perhaps the neurons in her brain weren't firing properly.
I've
been thinking about Barbara since Obama came on the scene. Like
Barbara, Obama professes concern for people, but treats many with utter
disregard. Since both are charismatic and successful, it's easy to get
fooled.
Some
would say Obama's cool detachment is narcissism. But narcissists are
charmers; they know exactly what to say and do, even it's all hot air.
Others
think that Obama is disengaged because he's elitist, arrogant. The day
to day grunt work is beneath him. His motto: I'd rather be golfing.
All of the above may be true, but it's something else: he seems off to me.
During
a 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft when the stock market was
sinking, Obama giggled. He wasn't embarrassed afterwards or
apologetic. More worrisome than his bizarre behavior was that he
didn't regard it as strange.
Then
last week, we've faced with a national crisis, soldiers killed and
gravely injured by an apparent Jihadist in the guise of a military
doctor. When announcing the catastrophe what does Obama do?
He drones on and on for three minutes about Native American health issues, even doing a shout out. In a monotone voice, Obama reports that soldiers have been shot. He's nonchalant, flat, as though he's reporting the weather.
Afterwards,
the opinions roll in. Some say that Obama looks down on the military.
He views our soldiers as the great unwashed, trashy and ignorant, like
Sarah Palin.
Others
assert that Obama's sympathies lie with the Muslims. Thus, he wants
to avoid our burning questions: Why wasn't Major Hasan put on leave
after he made anti-American remarks and surfed the web for information
about Jihad? Most importantly: what is the government going to do to
keep our military people and civilians safe?
True,
Obama's disinterest could be related to all of the above. But there's
one more possibility: he may not have the foggiest idea what to feel
or say or do.
He may not realize that after dozens of our soldiers are shot, he should be angry. Sad. Worried. That he should feel something. Or at least pretend to.
When Obama isn't prepped and rehearsed, he flails around like a blind man. He's clueless, lost in space.
Obama wrote in his autobiography, Dreams From My Father, that he's not comfortable around people. This speaks volumes about his disengagement.
People
who cannot relate to humans, who are made nervous by close proximity,
shut down. They isolate and hide, like a snail inside its shell.
This is when my therapist mind goes into overdrive trying to figure out what's wrong with him.
Is
he schizoid? (a detached, asocial person). Bipolar? (Manic
depression ). Does he have a brain syndrome? What about
Asperger's (high functioning autism causing a defect in social skills).
Is something wrong medically -- a hormone or blood sugar imbalance, a head injury, too many drugs in his youth?
Or is his disconnect caused by damage from childhood, from being raised by freaky people.
Barack
Sr. was an abusive alcoholic and a bigamist. Obama's mother, like my
former friend, Barbara, made decisions about little Barry that showed
little parental concern, like schlepping him to Indonesia, then back to
the States, then wanting to return with him to Indonesia (he stayed
with his grandparents).
Obama's grandfather Stanley was impulsive and volatile; he was expelled from high school for punching his principal.
Stanley
weirdly named Obama's mother "Stanley," because he wanted a boy. He
anointed Frank Marshall Davis, an alleged pedophile and communist, as
young Barry's mentor. In his autobiography, Obama reports feeling
uncomfortable having to listen to sexually charged, drunken trash talk
between Stanley and Frank.
Did
Obama start sealing himself off in childhood? It would be
understandable: who would want to bond with people so disturbing? And
why form emotional ties when you'll soon be leaving?
Obama
may have felt continually out of place and alien: black in a white
family; American in Indonesia; middle class with average grades at a
rich kids' prep school; child of odd, Communist leaning family.
In Dreams,
he reveals how he started detaching. About living with his
grandparents from pre teen on, he writes, "I was to live with
strangers." And: "I'd arrived at an unspoken pact with my
grandparents; I could live with them and they'd leave me alone so long
as I kept my troubles out of sight."
All
grown up, Obama remains hermetically sealed. Although he's been a
media star for a couple of years, we have no idea who he is inside.
I've
often wondered why people haven't come forth to say, "I knew Barry
when...." We live in a media saturated, exhibitionist world where
everyone wants their three minutes of fame.
So where are all of his school chums, best friends, and old flames? The groups he hung with? His teachers, neighbors?
Where
are the anecdotes of what Obama was like, his interests and
predilections? Was he friendly, funny, insightful? Did he win any
prizes or trophies? Pen any papers?
Obama
was president of the Harvard Law Review. Yet from his former
colleagues we find no accounts of putting out the journal together
under his leadership.
He was a lecturer on constitutional law. Why hasn't a single student come forth and offered evidence, like a good attorney?
Why the silence? Could it be that Obama left no dent, not even a single footprint? Is there no there there?
When I envision the youth of other public figures, my impressions are vivid:
Little Bill Clinton: people pleaser, Mama's boy, a show off.
Young Hillary: Brainiac, smartest girl in the school, bossy.
W: Wisecracker, Class Clown, Smart aleck.
McCain: Impetuous, volatile, ornery.
Sarah: Sweet, popular, every teacher's favorite, Miss Congeniality.
Young Barry: _________________. Blank.
Only this: Stranger in a Strange Land.
Obama's
identity seemed to have been formed when he found his clan: Rev.
Wright, Bill Ayers, and Bernadine Dohrn. But these are disconnected
people, misfits who aren't comfortable in their own skin. Their
radical ideology arises from rage and alienation.
They,
like Obama, treat people with disdain. Rev. Wright damned us after
9/11. Ayers and Dohrn bombed us, even masterminding a failed plot to
kill US servicemen attending a dance.
Obama's
indifference and distaste are on display every day. He golfs while
unemployment surges. He pontificates after an attack against America.
Why
the "let them eat cake" attitude? Is it because he's pleased that the
Left's long laid plan to decimate capitalism is working nicely? Is he
stubborn, not wanting to do what he doesn't want to do?
I'd say yes. But there's something much more unsettling.
He may have a limited ability to care.
Sure Obama loves his wife, children, dog Bo, and himself, especially himself. And he relishes his far left ideology.
But the working stiff, the heart and soul of this country? I don't see it. The United States? I don't think so.
And that's why Obama should never have been elected President.
A
man or woman can be a decent President without getting A's in school or
graduating from the Ivy League. They don't need to have had a Brady
Bunch childhood.
They can even lack experience if they work 24/7, know what they don't know, and seek expert advice.
But there's one requirement that is nonnegotiable:
They need to be able to care about us.
And, frankly, I don't know if this President is capable of it.
Robin is a licensed psychotherapist and a recovering liberal in Berkeley.
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Mila Kunis' Weight Gain Is No Cause for Concern
wow...this is alot of over-analyzing in my view. mostly speculation, and about how one person feels another person SHOULD respond in a crisis. But I guess the point is that this is one unhappy camper. But another point arises; in that no matter what President Obama does he will never be able to please everybody. Just enough people to get elected into office. Some will probably always see only his flaws, while others will hail his every action as greatness. I try to be objective ... Have a nice day .
- JeffcoNwife
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