Frank Rich: Obama, The GOP, And A Case Of Stockholm Syndrome

The New York Times:

THOSE desperate to decipher the baffling Obama presidency could do worse than consult an article titled "Understanding Stockholm Syndrome" in the online archive of The F.B.I. Law Enforcement Bulletin. It explains that hostage takers are most successful at winning a victim's loyalty if they temper their brutality with a bogus show of kindness. Soon enough, the hostage will start concentrating on his captors' "good side" and develop psychological characteristics to please them -- "dependency; lack of initiative; and an inability to act, decide or think."

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[Rosewren]

05:16 AM on 12/06/2010

Obama is not going to "breakout" as he is waiting politely until the GOP opens the door for him and tells him it is okay for him to leave the principal's office.

[rosal]

01:02 AM on 12/06/2010

It pains me to say it, but lately I am wishing more and more Bernie Sanders would run for President.

[maidenofdforest]

12:15 AM on 12/06/2010

Deficits, joblessness, economy, Socail Security, medicare.....they all involve money. And voters who did not think of deficits as number 1 issue are in for more education. When deficits start to grow, the economy becomes weary, jittery. Handling of money, (as in borrowing), disbursements,shipping of jobs overseas so we could save big on manufacturing..these are all interconnected. What we see as a nice way to save can boomerang on us in the long run. With the conflagration of things, the contagion is very fatal.

Frank Rich never fails to inject large doses of reality into our senses. It's like his narration akin to a suspense movie thriller that makes you grip your hands on the seat and bite your tongue.

[mmm611]

11:32 PM on 12/05/2010

You've all got it wrong. The problem isn't Obama. The problem is the American people. Bush was a bad president because the American people supported him, and Obama is a bad president because the American people don't. Sometimes history decides when there is a great leader, and when the people aren't ready, they pass him by...

[flyfysher]

01:02 AM on 12/06/2010

Obama is not a great leader and he was not ready to lead. What should he have done?

1. Even before his election Obama and his team should have begun formulating a legislative agenda and a flexible time frame for submitting it so he could hit the ground running. As for leadership, people would have been a heck of a lot more impressed if he stuck with a smaller, muted inauguration and said his focus was on immediately getting to work on the nation's problems.

2. Before his inauguration Obama should have met with Congressional leaders to work out a plan for introducing legislation.

3. Obama should have been far more shrewd to use the media to his advantage in pushing his legislative agenda. My guess is that this was Axelrod's fault and lack of expertise.

4. Obama should have asked for a 1.5 trillion stimulus a la Krugman.

5. Obama should have appointed someone other than Summers and Geithner.

6. Obama should have immediately sought to establish a financial clearinghouse to deal with all of the toxic assets and determine who holds the liabilities. These are still sitting around. It should have been done like the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC - remember that).

These were just for starters. Over a year and a half ago I was writing to the White House and urging Obama to lead.

[Rosewren]

05:23 AM on 12/06/2010

#5

[breakingpoint]

11:12 PM on 12/05/2010

Max Keiser said it first
http://www.maxkeiser.com

[Didderbops]

09:02 PM on 12/05/2010

Blasphemy!!!!! Stone the heretic! (From Life of Brian). When will the Obamautons learn???

[Michmod]

11:08 PM on 12/05/2010

Learn what? You can have a bright, pragmatic president fight for the middle class and he can be subverted by the oglicarchs? Yeah. I'm learning that. It's a real bummer.

[gorgol]

12:08 AM on 12/06/2010

He brought Larry (Goldman Sachs) Summers in to solve the economic mess. He just LOVES Timmy Geithner. Main Street got nothing, Big Banks got the vaults of taxpayers wealth. The most important part of the HC was given away, to the pleasure of the PHARMS. Afghanistan has more troops now..how's that going for you?? Subverted??
A majority in both houses, hello???

[Rosewren]

05:24 AM on 12/06/2010

He has no idea how to fight for anything.

[Willow207]

08:41 PM on 12/05/2010

Wrong Frank,
It is in fact the American public who suffers from Stockholm Syndrome,
and it all took place immediatel­y following 9-11
When the nation's adults suddenly became childlike victims in need of a "national daddy image"
to protect them from the boogie man hiding around the corner
and the public surrendere­d their ability and right to think for themselves­,
and now are still demanding someone do their thinking for them...
and demand Obama do that, so they don't have to...

[GiveUsFree]

10:48 PM on 12/05/2010

F&F

[gorgol]

12:03 AM on 12/06/2010

What??? The American people decided they wanted change..Obama promised change.
Obama decided "change" meant caving into all the Repubs demands. Over and over again.
HE had a MAJORITY IN BOTH HOUSES....now its the publics fault??

[Willow207]

12:26 PM on 12/06/2010

If he had a "majority", then why didn't the majority vote with the president?
Blue dogs ran scared of not getting reelected in midterms...and did not vote with the president...and still didn't get reelected!

[EGB]

08:00 PM on 12/05/2010

This is a pathetic performance by a man who won by such a margin. It's all gone now. What does he stand for? What will he go to the mat for? Why does he only ask for 1/4 of a loaf before talks begin? How does he suffer such disrespect from Republicans who have absolutely no agenda but to crush him, which looks like it's not much of a challenge? This vacuum is going to be filled by the worst Republicans have to offer. We are in real trouble. We must get another candidate for 2012.

[Debbie McPherson]

07:00 PM on 12/05/2010

Obama is clearly not the victim of any hostage situation. We the people are the victims of Obama. he should never have run as a Democrat. he has done a great diservice to the party and continues to disappoint all but the very rich.
 
Content to be the pretty boy, the smooth speaker and the global guy on the go from America, he has casually given away every chance he has had to stand for something meaningful. He gives in without a fight, he gives up without apology and after now blithely handing over tax cuts to the rich he has signaled to every Democrat that  it is time for him to get out of the party for real.
 
 This man is an embarrassment. Add up all that he has done and it doesn't equal a bag chips for the middle class working American.
 
Healthcare without cost containment transfers more expense to all working Americans.
 
His financial reform did nothing to rein in Too Big Too Fail
.
His bailouts are done according to the Govt Sachs employees - Geithner , Bernanke, Summers, Volker - all Sachs men.
 
He claims victory in foreign negotiating that ends up being nothing more than more free trade agreemnets that destroy far more jobs here than they'll ever create.
 
He panders to the multinationals and has reneged on his campaign promise to stop giving them a free ride as they offshore all of our jobs. To tax them fairly - nonthing has been done to that end.
 
Obama is a lost cause. We need to quickly identify a Democrat to run in 2012 and force Obama off the ticket. If we do not successfully remove this man from the Democrat label he will ruin the brand forever and it might as well not even exist.
 
America is being destroyed by our govt  colluding with Big Business and selling out we the people. If we do not soon reverse this crime what made  America wonderful  will be lost forever and the American people will see the level playing field Obama and his Big Business friends see for us - two classes, the very, very rich and then the very poor. We move  further down that road everyday.

[JimR]

07:20 PM on 12/05/2010

Thank you so much for your post! It reminded me that I have to take out the garbage tonight.

[Debbie McPherson]

07:23 PM on 12/05/2010

JimR
 
Unfortuantely, this is the garbage that Obama has delivered to his used to be base.

[Willow207]

08:47 PM on 12/05/2010

"America is being destroyed by our govt colluding with Big Business and selling out we the people..."

Sorry to inform you of facts, but the colusion you refer to has been well in place for more than 40 years, and long before Barak Obama held any elected office....

If American's want to blame anyone, trying blaming themselves for continuing to elect military/industrial- banker puppets into office.

When will American's start acting like adults, accept responsiblity for their own bad behavior, and stop the "blame" game...grow up and accept your role in this and then you will see real change!

[Rosewren]

05:34 AM on 12/06/2010

Remember the mantra, "change how things are done in Washington", that was what he ran on and that is what we voted for and he did not deliver anything even close. All this "it isn't his fault" as he is just doing what everyone else did and it is the voter's fault is BS.

[Debbie McPherson]

10:05 AM on 12/06/2010

Willow
 
The fact that we have been decieved by so many other adminstrations is no excuse for Obama who ran on a platform of change and held out that there is still hope - if only he won the election - then he turns out to bein a league of the worst of the worst - less transparency - he is lazy and disgusting - he doesn't even attempt to work out anything as he promised - he leaves all teh doings to others - while he flies around the world playing to photo ops. There is nothing to this man, he is empty, on the take, and the least trustworthy of any politician ever.
So, you tell me - how are Americans to "accept" responsibility for the fact we elected a man who did a 180 on us a soon as he took office. Sure, we know they are all liars - right? So how do we "grow up and accept" our roll in this mess? Did the public know any of this before it was too late? No, we did not. Did we make a huge mistake trusting this man?Yes, we did. Is he a puppet, yes he is. And how were we to know this ahead of time and stop the fruad, the liar, the nothingness of Obama?
Your so called "facts" support my original statement  - sorry to inform you...there is no defense for this hideous president. 

[OneLiberalLady]

06:18 PM on 12/05/2010

Warren Buffett nailed it: the tax cuts for the wealthiest didn't work in the last ten years and they are not going to work now. But, as Rich says, the Republicans have been so consistent in their message that they have sold Americans on this worn out, disproven idea of "trickle down," The real victims of Stockholm's syndrome are the people that bought the Republican lies and voted for them.

[tincl]

07:15 PM on 12/05/2010

I'm in total agreement..... This is getting old: believing something because it gets repeated ad nauseum.... There needs to be an anti-dote to those who continue to think a falsehood is a fact!!!
Fanned long ago - but certainly faved.

[EGB]

08:05 PM on 12/05/2010

The best antidote would be a leader who's on the same page with those who oppose the Republican Party's degradation of America. We just don't have one. This period of unopposed poison is going to be very difficult to overcome - for many years to come.

[GiveUsFree]

10:55 PM on 12/05/2010

The fact remains that the Republicans haven't sold Americans on anything. They are using an obscure rule in the US Senate to hold us all hostage. The American public is against tax cuts for the Rich.

Screw it all. Bring on the revolt. I'm tired of talking. Start dragging rich bankers out of their Limos and Maybachs and lets see what happens. Start kicking their butts Rodney King style.

[tulsey]

02:46 AM on 12/06/2010

Rodney got stomped by the police who work for the banksters.

[december30]

06:10 PM on 12/05/2010

Oh, and I 'll shout it again, THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA HAS AND STILL IS BRINGING OUT THE WORST AMERICANS, INCLUDING HIS BASE. LOL I Pray daily the he does not seek reelection.

[tapley]

07:23 PM on 12/05/2010

Have you considered that what you may think is his base and what he considers his base may not be the same?

[Debbie McPherson]

07:34 PM on 12/05/2010

tapley
 
I think the answer is obvious - we think that his base were the people who voted for him - he sees his base as the Big Corporations, the Big banks and Multnationals who gave him his largest campaign donations. And he has given them everything in return the $$$$$ - including his sould - assuming he had one.
 
But good luck to him trying to get re elected by the same public who voted for him last time. I've been reading here on HP for months and months and there is very little positive being said about him anymore - to us he is a fraud and a turncoat...  

[december30]

06:06 PM on 12/05/2010

Frank Rich and all of you whinners are simply pathetic. LOL

[tapley]

07:26 PM on 12/05/2010

OK, Besides saving the auto industry (and even there he had the unions give up a lot); name one truly progressive cause he fought for all the way through?

[JimR]

06:04 PM on 12/05/2010

"But if the passions of Obama's base have been deflated by the compromises he made to secure historic gains like the Recovery Act, health care reform and Wall Street regulation, that gloom cannot obscure the essential point: This president has delivered more sweeping, progressive change in 20 months than the previous two Democratic administrations did in 12 years."

"The Case for Obama"

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/220013

[Debbie McPherson]

07:06 PM on 12/05/2010

JimR
 
The case for Obama is not going to be hidden in these political spins - he is devious, weak and an overall embarressment to the party. He should change parties and climb right in bed with the Republicans. He is a fraud and you need look no further than the devastation in every city and state, the long and growing unemployment lines, the millions of offshored jobs that he has endorsed for his buddies over at GE, and you will see that there is no denying it, this man is nothing, nothing at all for any Democrat to brag about. He is a corporate lap dog, he is kiss up to Govt Sachs and Sachs boy Geithner leads him around by the nose.
Give it up JimR. This man is the not so great imposter.

[JimR]

07:19 PM on 12/05/2010

Hi Debbie! How's the trolling today?

[Rosewren]

05:41 AM on 12/06/2010

Fanned already but I can fave you comment. JimR doesn't see reality he doesn't realize that Obama has moved on to a different girlfriend.

[dumosumo]

07:25 PM on 12/05/2010

Perhaps it is the case for compromise, so poorly demonstrated, that is the cause for passion's deflation.

[dumosumo]

06:00 PM on 12/05/2010

His intimate circle has to be included among his "captors". Getting rid of some of them would be a big start toward the evolution from jellyfish to vertebrate.

[Debbie McPherson]

07:38 PM on 12/05/2010

dumo
 
just follow the money - Govt Sachs and GE gave him big bucks - they have made like the bandits they are in exchange for giving him money. The voting public were basically lied to and then dumped as soon as he took office.
His Obamacare is a political joke - made the Big Insurance Companies happy - their stock went up the next day - as for working Americans - our premiums and costs went up - thanks Obama - reform with no public option was just another swing of the  hammer Obama is using to drive the middle class into poverty. 

[OneLiberalLady]

05:47 PM on 12/05/2010

Rich's anger and frustration is palpable in this column. Unfortunately, he speaks for a lot of us.