Freud Meets Obama

In my last post, I criticized Sigmund Freud for asserting that guilt is the “most important problem in the development of civilization.” I stick to my guns, but it is ironic that in the particular circumstances in which we find ourselves, guilt may very well be one of the most potent weapons being deployed in the sociopolitical arena. It is a weapon used, with great effectiveness, to rend the fabric of Western culture.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has staged an entire campaign around the altar of guilt. Of course, the odium and the inevitable punishment are directed at a specific portion of the electorate—the white folk, the villains of the victimization drama. And yet many of these villains are prepared to vote for their oppressor. Thus we are witnessing a curious phenomenon: Voters gravitating to a candidate who explicitly declares that he will act against their interests.

One could retort that this is nothing new; Democrats have for some time preached an ideology that erodes the structure that has given the “fortunate” majority one of the most comfortable lifestyles on earth. Yet still, with an LBJ or a Carter, and perhaps even a Bill Clinton, one could rationalize that everyone will benefit when certain “social problems” are ameliorated via direct government intervention.

Looking ahead to a possible GDA (God-damn-America) administration, no such rationalization is workable. There can be no further calculations of enlightened self-interest. The message leaves no room for interpretation: Get down on your knees, ladies and gentlemen, and prepare to be whipped. You will like it because you so deserve it. After the session of emotional abuse, we will proceed to the wallet reduction program. Following several years of sustained castigation, perhaps, if we are in a good mood, we will consider you worthy of being absolved.

Many have alleged, and with good reason, that Mr. Obama’s unwillingness to disassociate himself from his GDA mentors has hurt his chances for success. After all, they say, what self-respecting American would not cringe upon hearing the shocking diatribes spilling from the mouths of the guilt-mongers. This approach assumes, however, a degree of rationality that may be absent among segments of the public.

It may very well turn out that the revelations concerning the Rev. Wright and other GDA preachers are advantageous to Mr. Obama because they throw salt on the wounds of white guilt. Certainly, it may alienate many, but for the faithful it deepens the emotional bond between abuser and abused. This is critical for any such relationship: There must be no doubt as to the sincerity and perseverance of the abuser.

This warped liaison leads us to the dialogue that might take place if Mr. Obama were to visit Dr. Freud for some psychoanalysis:

FREUD (in armchair, stroking his beard): Vell, Herr Barack, tell me more about your childhood. Is it true zat you feel guilty about being such a disappointment to your vight grand-muzzer?

OBAMA (lying on couch): Me, guilty? Grandma was a racist. If anyone’s feeling guilty, it should be her.

FREUD: Ah, zoh. But maybe zerr is some-sink more latent, remaining from your anal stage.

OBAMA: Anal?! (Suddenly stands up) Listen, you dead white male, get on that couch.

FREUD: You are acting out zee anger from ven your grand-muzzer discovered your little secret…

OBAMA: All right, that’s enough. (Grabs Freud by the scruff of the neck and hurls him onto the couch). I’ll be running this session now, Siggy. You will answer for the guilt of your entire European civilization…

*******************

Mr. Obama and his band of GDA guilt-mongers have made two excellent calculations. The first is that racial guilt is a more powerful force than the feminist-driven affirmative action that propelled Madame Clinton to the status of serious contender. It is far easier to generate guilt over racism, which—despite its more recent use as a term of opprobrium for any number of anti-PC thought crimes—everyone agrees was at one time or another a real issue for people who happened to be born the wrong color.

There is no such consensus of sentiment when it comes to the feminist narrative, which stands in stark contradiction to everyday human experience. Many men and women are opposed to it, and of those who support it or are largely reconciled to it, guilt hardly enters into the equation.

The second excellent calculation is the timing. It is the perfect moment to launch this political atom bomb in the conversion of America to a suicidal, soft-totalitarian victimocracy. The country has been softened up for decades with incessant victim mythology. A growing segment of the population has now grown up without any countervailing frame of reference. The local anesthesia has been administered to the patient, leaving him conscious yet deprived of sharp judgment.

Even if the GDA machine loses, its very rise to prominence is a victory that would have been unthinkable not so many years ago. It is only the first bomb of its kind—be ready for many more.