First, Jeanne Donovan compares Republicans to battered spouses--and makes some really excellent psychological points:
If we are to understand the root cause of the difficulties now faced by the Republican Party, our current Republican leaders should each look in the mirror and ask themselves the following questions:
-Do you feel nervous when you're around a liberal?
Are you scared of disagreeing with liberals?
-Do you remain silent in front of a liberal because you want them to like you?
-Do you try to please a liberal, only to be rebuked for your efforts?
-Do liberals criticize you, or humiliate you in front of other people?
-Do you have to control your behavior or your language to avoid their anger and ridicule?
-Do you feel pressured by them to participate in activities you find offensive?
-Do liberals mock you when your express profoundly held beliefs about capitalism, religion, sex and gender issues?
-Do liberals demand that you think, speak, and even support ideas that are disgusting to you?
-Are liberals always calling you names?
-Do liberals repeatedly and wrongly accuse you of being something you're not, such as racist, homophobic, and uncaring?
-Do liberals tell you that if you changed, they wouldn't have to say these awful things about you?
-Do you believe that if you changed, the liberal would like you more?
Are liberals jealous because you have made a success of your life?
-Do liberals blame you for everything that goes wrong in their lives?
-Do liberals tell lies about you?
-Do liberals threaten your freedom of movement?
-Do liberals interfere with the way you want to raise, discipline and educate your children?
-Do liberals make you feel like you are wrong, stupid, crazy or inadequate?
-Do liberals attempt to prevent you from doing what makes you happy?
-Do liberals put roadblocks in your way when you try to escape their plans for you?
-Do liberals attempt to control your money, your associations, and your goals?
Are you expected to do things to please liberals, rather than to please yourself?
-Do you feel that, with liberals, nothing you ever do is good enough?
-Do liberals claim it's your own fault they are attacking you, or claim that they were "just joking" when they hurled epithets at you?
-Have liberals ever scared you by threatening to get even, or to ruin your reputation, or by suggesting that they are the only people standing between you and the pitchforks?
If you answered "yes" to most or all of these questions, you are have become the victim in an abusive relationship....
Read it all. And then check this out:
Last July I wrote a column entitled “Barack W. Bush” outlining how candidate Barack Obama was strangely emulating Bush policies — even as he was trashing the president.
Nearly a year later, President Obama has continued that schizophrenia, criticizing Bush while keeping in place Bush’s anti-terrorism protocols. The result of this Bush Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is that, thanks to Obama, history will soon begin reassessing George W. Bush’s presidency in a more positive light.
Why? Because the more Obama feels compelled to trash Bush, the more he draws attention to the fact that he is copying — or in some cases falling short of — his predecessor. He seems to wish to frame his presidency in terms of the Bush years, even though such constant evocation is serving his predecessor more than it is serving Obama himself.
Read the whole piece. VDH calls it "Bush Obsessive Compulsive Disorder", which I don't think quite fits the pathology. I think we are dealing with more of a grandiose narcissism , cool and aloof; and too threatened to recognize anyone else's ideas or existence--as a Tigerhawk post reminds us:
And last, but certainly not least, I've been meaning to link to ShrinkWrapped's excellent series on "The Modern Left: A Marriage of Postmodernism and Narcissism"
Part I begins:
You cannot understand modern politics, especially the role and behavior of the left understanding the basics of Post-Modernism. Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, by Stephen Hicks is a must read which can help clarify such superficially puzzling questions as the conceptual basis for the alliance between radical Islam and the Left.
The Left has an outsized influence in the West via their control of much of the Academy and much of the MSM, which allows them to establish the acceptable bounds of discourse (Political Correctness, Hate Crimes, etc.) Further, the Left's Post-Modern narrative is now the baseline for Europe and threatens to become the accepted framework for discourse in America. Their ideas reside at the core of the Democratic Party and and exert tremendous influence upon our ruling elites in both parties.
Be sure to read Parts II and III.
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