Post-Palin Depression

A therapist I know -- OK, since you dragged it out of me, my therapist -- told me that I'd be astonished if I knew how many emergency calls she got the night that Sarah Palin gave her convention speech.

Actually, I wasn't that surprised. Judging from the number of unnerved post-Palin phone calls and e-mails that I got, I wonder why I didn't think of calling her myself.

Why was it such a psychic downer? Movement conservatives might gloat that it was because Palin kicked liberal butt, made unanswerable arguments, strutted her Super Woman stuff, and -- worst of all -- signaled the Democrats' inevitable defeat come November.

Now I don't doubt that some people experience a presidential campaign as one long audition for the show that will be playing on their television sets these next four years. But I'm hoping that the 5 to 10 percent of undecideds in the 18 battleground states who will swing the Electoral College more resemble the savvy mass audiences of "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons" than voters for the next "American Idol" or the mob in "Coriolanus." Why should a single performance by the governor of Alaska, or even several of them, bedazzle millions of otherwise skeptical Americans into throwing away their bull---t detectors? The historic disapproval ratings of the incumbent president are continuing evidence that the American mainstream has soured on the culture wars' politics of group against group and the rest of the ressentiment at the heart of Palin's message.

So what accounts for the panic Palin provoked?

Part of it, I think, is that we catastrophize. By "we," I don't mean liberals. I mean the many functioning neurotics among us who think that a doctor's every "hmmm" during a physical is a portent of tragic doom; who mentally extrapolate from routine family conflicts to irreparable ruptures; and whose pessimism is relentlessly fed by cable news, which -- in order to hang on to our attention -- portrays every freeway car chase as a potential shootout; depicts every global brushfire as the start of World War III; and shouts, "Breaking news!" so frequently that the scary music that accompanies it is itself enough to spike the nation's blood pressure. The fearmongering of politicians, of course, plays right into this.

This is not to say that putting Sarah Palin one melanoma from the presidency would mean good times. It would be more like James Dobson with nuclear weapons. But while her Rovian apparatchiks are stoking the worst among us with passionate intensity, it's not inevitable that the best will lose all conviction in the voting booth.

When a political candidate convinces half a country to hope again, it's a double-edged sword. The endorphins and neurotransmitters that wash our brains when we welcome the future instead of dreading it are as powerful as any drug. It's like love. Unless you let your guard down, unless you permit vulnerability to trump cynicism, you rarely can get what you want. That's why Howard Dean or John Edwards or Hillary Clinton were, for many people, so thrilling to support. That's why hardened political operatives call that kind of enthusiasm "drinking the Kool-Aid." That's why, when the fall comes, it's so painful.

But my therapist, if I understand her, has another take on this. She thinks that people identify too much with candidates. Their ups have become our ups; their downs, ours as well. And by identifying with them so closely, we inevitably make ourselves vulnerable to outside factors, to forces we can't control. And the more political media we consume -- on cable, online, on e-mail, on radio, in print -- the more we cultivate the illusion that we ourselves are actual political players, that our advice is urgently needed, that everything depends on our counsel.

I'm totally guilty on this charge. "Grow a pair!" I yell to Obama and Biden when I see them on my screen. "Put McCain on the defensive! Go after his strength! Make the POW thing irrelevant to the presidency! Destroy the 'maverick' charade! Call their lies lies!" But my tirades, instead of making me feel better, only underline my powerlessness to second guess the campaign's strategy or reshape its tone and message.

I don't mean to diminish the importance of every single citizen in a democracy. Registering to vote, giving money, going door-to-door, working phone banks, expressing our opinions: there is plenty that each of us can do, and the collective action that comes from that commitment can move mountains and make history.

But there is a difference between pitching in and hitching our psyches to the day-to-day vicissitudes of campaignland or to the news media's breathless "narrative" of the horse race. One is about us, and it is within our power to control what we ourselves do. The other is about them, and it is a kind of annihilation to cede our identity and our well-being to people outside ourselves, whether those people be candidates and commentators -- or audiences, critics, velvet-rope guardians, fashionistas, studio executives, admissions committees or that hottie over there at the bar.

As for me, I'm trying to unplug. I'm still reading the papers, but I've gone cold turkey -- well, room-temperature turkey -- on cable (except for C-SPAN and "The Daily Show"), blogs (except for a few), radio (except for NPR) and every other source of political news that I thought I was obligated to mainline in real time 24/7. If I fall off the wagon, maybe there's some 12-step group for media addicts I can join, or a 1-800-TVDETOX hotline I can call. All this may make me a lesser media yakker, I know, but think of the dough I'll be saving on therapy.

This is an excerpt from my column at The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. You can read the whole thing, or email me, over there.

Follow Marty Kaplan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/martykaplan

Comments

[Pammy1151]

I will be seeing my therapist next Tuesday. She is an Obama fan and seems to be very sure he is going to win. I have been really active in the campaign. The first time in my life (63 years) I have done more than just vote. I am emotionally worn out already and the rough part is not here yet. I learned a long time ago not to put myself through emotionally disturbing events. I did NOT watch the Republican Convention because I was afraid I would want to just hang myself after. I am a TV addict and need to do what you have said is turn it off. I have always been a political junkie but this stuff is beyond my addiction. Pre Sarah I felt rather confident but now not so much. I know silly many women are. I know they vote differently than I do. I know they don't actually vote issues. My own daughter is in the military and I had a conversation with her that made me what to commit myself after. I have my therapist on speed dial for election day.

[bumpersticker]

My pet theory is that the Paiin speech was a "Being There" moment, where the Republicans were offering up four years of government the voters could watch, instead of being inconvenienced with participatory problem solving. It was suddenly, "Yes we can" up against "I like to watch," with a sick feeling that isolated watching now trumps community "we can." Who's really going into the voting booth? Deep down, we know it's Chauncy. Participatory Democracy will regress to Nielsen Ratings if given the chance, and Sarah has given it that chance. Put away those rakes - the couch is back!

[flanardiente]

Obama doesn't have a military record they can slime. The worst they've got on him is an acquaintance with a man who had an acquaintance with the Weathermen way back when, and an ex-pastor who is also an ex-Marine and holds three White House citations who once said something bad. Oh, and he also said that people who've lost their jobs and been sidelined for the rest of their lives are "bitter," the silly man. So, rather than Swift-boat Obama, they have instead introduced a woman whose own friends claim she's weird enough to have come out of a flying saucer. So, rather than talk about Bush's incompetence or McCain's almost total lack of character or the recession or the endless wars and threats of wars or anything else of substance, it's all Sarah all the time. Which is just what they want. She's MISDIRECTION. She's NOT IMPORTANT. Even if they WIN. This is probably the most important election since 1932, and we're talking about some soap-opera bimbo out of a bad TV soap opera. Maybe we deserve to lose.

[lewes17266]

flanardiente, You break my heart. We deserve to win now more than ever because McCain placed his own interests above what is best for the country. This is a very dangerous world we live in.
Sarah Palin's family's unfortunate circumstances (a down's syndrome infant and a pregnant 17-year-old daughter) are being exploited by McCain for that evangelical vote he missed out on when his pandering to Hagee turned bad. McCain has now won that segment over to his side by choosing Palin over more qualified and experienced candidates. Sarah Palin has no foreign affairs experience at all and her education background does not impress me as a likely candidate for such a high office, especially considering John McCain's age and cancer history. These are dangerous, complicated times and I think it is imperative that our candidates are prepared and qualified. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have my full confidence and respect. I have lost all respect for John McCain who placed his own aspirations above what is best for the country.

[cc]

Each and every one of us who yearns to see Obama in the White House needs to be envisioning him already elected to the position and beaming his astonishing smile from behind the desk in the oval office. I started visualizing this scene throughout my day and every time I see it my spirits soar!

Help me out here people! Stop listening to doomsayers and always think and speak positively about Obama whether you feel that way or not! Say "President Obama"out loud--it feels great!! Thoughts are powerful--just look at the world we've created with them! What have we made without first imagining it? Even the lowly toaster is the manifestation of a thought! Obama will not become President if we don't believe it will happen--and we'll never believe it will happen if we keep thinking it won't! So please, please hold positive thoughts and visions in mind at ALL times! To the extent we are determined, the result is "The Good Thing"!

[humantrampoline]

And we must also all remember to vote. I hate to admit this, but a few days ago I was thinking to myself that I maybe I would just not vote this time. After all, there are SO MANY of us who've already decided to vote for Obama, and I just moved to a new county so in order to vote I either have to re-register or go back to my old polling place, which I despise because it is full of Republicans and waiting in line with them to vote just makes my skin crawl, and besides, I live in Texas so there's virtually no chance that Obama will win the state...but I WILL VOTE for Obama. We have to imagine him already in office, already changing this country and our world for the better. Plus, wouldn't it be cool if we get so many of us out there voting for him that Texas goes Democrat this time? That would be sweet.

[Phoenixredux]

My several-week depression turned to mania tonight after watching Charlie gut Sarah.

[JICC]

Abandon all hope: exactly how retarded does one have to be to remain "undecided" in this year's election? Do you really trust these folks will suddenly grow half a brain over the next few weeks? Unless something pretty dramatic happens to Palin, the country may be going to the dogs once for all. As much as "digging for dirt" has been criticized, I see no other solution. Who decided the last election? Don't you think the ignorant evangelical masses will show up again en masse to elect their presidential candidate? (Palin, not McSame). Dig! Dig HARDER! Time is of the essence...

[milo9]

If you're still feeling blue. Put on some lipstick, it's been making me feel like a pitbull.

[elbzee]

But still a pitbull. Lipstick or not!

[lobo1939]

David Broder had similiar consoling advice in todays WP. My depression is boosted by my several smirking conservative friends who remind me painfully how politically stupid I think they are.

[prettychicago]

While I don't have a therapist, I did sit on my couch with a sour stomach after Palin's speech. This article is dead-on. It's what I hear from every non-Pentecostal, lefty I speak with. It's painful how closely this describes my screaming at the TV from my couch (luckily, my downstairs neighbor agrees and watched that debacle with me and my hubby).

Go ahead neo-cons. Mock my pain (I mock your lives daily, what can I say - I'm a snob). We'll see who has to call a therapist in November. My bet is that it will be you. Or I bet you folks think therapy is lefty too.

That's me, left from my hand to my brain!

[MimiCares]

Thanks for the idea Marty, I'm following your lead - cold turkey!

[waitforme]

The media you keep -- that is ALL? What were you doing before?!

As a former therapist (25 years), and as an observer, I think there are therapists who minimize one's need and indeed one's healthy activity of activism, relegating it to some 'psychological' theory or other (much as Cindy Sheehan was accused by some therapists of 'incomplete grieving' when she became incredibly active against the war after it killed her son -- but what better way to grieve or to deal with one's son having been killed in war?)

I don't know if your therapist is speaking of people getting terribly bummed out after the Palin speech or if she was against activism. My own bummed-ness, total disheartedness, as I watched that woman's cute, clever, 'new!', way of putting down everything I value, was about knowing that there are many Americans who will be sucked into her pretty shtick and that her put-downs will be an excuse for many people's racism to win out over their good sense. She is a racism sponge: soaks it up from people and squeezes it out over them at every stop.

[And thanks, as a smart man, for admitting you have a therapist; that is a good model for everybody.]

[newbridge]

Palin and the Christian Conservatives equals bigotry and arrogance. Have you ever noticed that when it is one of us, who has a pregnant teenager or is gay, we are targeted as sinners and definitely one who will go to hell. However, if it is one of them who is caught in a sex scandal or who is gay, they are all of a sudden compassionate and forgiving. Definitely a double standard.

Sarah Palin does not represent what a true Christian or American believes. She follows a God I haven't learned about. Be very afraid of her. These Christian nuts are closer than you would like to think to the intolerance of the islamic extremists.

[jackwaddington]

It seems to me than no-one got the meaning of 9/11. Nine Eleven was the culmination of the bully on the American continental block (hiding his bully tactics in the secret organization, CIA) getting finally what it has been (subliminally) asking for. Nine/Eleven, by comparison to what the U.S.A. has been doing around the world, was a 'pin prick'. Anyone trying to get the bully to see the error of his ways (revenge) is deemed a " terrorist'. If that is a terrorist then the war on terror is lost and was lost before it started. You've failed to identify terrorism. Look to your secret service: they are all there and paid for with your taxes, called CIA hit men.

[gardengranny]

I think we should all concentrate on having the best possible candidates - the ones who will do right by all Americans, not just the lobbyists and wealthiest 2%.

Please look at Palin not as a woman, but as what she stands for - you and the rest of the Hillary supporters who cannot move on - would want that for your candidate.

Get real - Sarah Palin is an uninformed (why else all the coaching?)­,mean-spir­ited bully.

I suggest she take Karl Rove's place in the Repub party. She seems to be of the same mold.

[libbygirl]

Since this is the first election that I have paid sooooooo much attention to and invested so much of myself emotionally, I have taken that blue-knuckle roller coaster ride. I was considering asking my doctor for some Valium. I, like you, have weaned myself off of almost all TV political news and restricted myself to just a few websites. I've put my faith and trust in Obama to run his own campaign......hard to do, being that I'm a control freak. It only increased my frustration to not have Obama's cellphone number so that I could call him with my expert advice. It's hard to let go but necessary if I'm to get any sleep.