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Obama's Political Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome
American Thinker ^ | March 09, 2009 | Otis A. Glazebrook IV

Posted on 03/09/2009 12:21:32 AM PDT by neverdem

In the field of Psychiatry, Munchausen by Proxy is a disease of a child's custodian, usually a mother, who induces sickness, real or imagined in her child (sometimes resulting in death) in order to gain sympathy and to portray herself as the heroine. The child accepts his/her abuse as "normal" in exchange for a perception of safety provided by the caretaker. The adolescent child has no other choice.

Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome* (MPS) was named after Baron von Munchausen, an eighteenth-century German dignitary known for telling outlandish stories.

In the political arena President Obama has purposely recreated a version of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome by following the Hoover/FDR model of economic destruction, increasing taxation and regulation during a recession. Obama is compounding the damage by destroying the domestic nuclear, oil and coal industries at the same time. It should be obvious that, we need to double or triple our domestic energy production and reduce absurd government regulations. It is imperative that we double and eventually triple our GDP as soon as possible to pay for Obama's rampant spending in unproductive areas.

Instead of an adolescent child, Obama's victim is ultimately the forgotten man: the taxpayer, who actually creates wealth and pays the bills. The unspoken agreement is that the "forgotten man" will trade his freedom for the illusion of security.

As H.L. Mencken pointed out three generations ago:

"The average man doesn't want to be free. He wants to be safe."

Franklin D. Roosevelt pioneered the Democrats' model of the political version of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome by exploiting uncertainty in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929, and by refusing to work with the Hoover Administration on the severe economic problems then facing the Country.

The annihilating event that followed the crash was deflation, brought about through government over-reaction and over-regulation. The economy continued to deteriorate because of uncertainty during the interregnum. Despite repeated pleas from Hoover (like G.W. Bush later) to work together towards a resolution, Roosevelt (like Obama) was clearly not interested; the continued crisis only strengthened his mandate for his (new) "New Deal" policies.

Roosevelt rolled into Office on March 4th, 1933 as the restless self confident hero who would save us from the evils of Laissez-faire Capitalism. As he made clear in his First Inaugural Address: 

"This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

The country cared little that much of FDR's "New Deal" policies had been originated by Hoover, or that Roosevelt and his "Brain Trust" viewed the Country's dire situation as chance to experiment.

Action was called for and what mattered most was change.

FDR (Obama) appeared to be so caring and attentive, few suspected any wrongdoing. Just as in the case of the abusive parent, FDR (Obama) was jovial, cool, and unusually calm in the face of serious adversity.

In both versions of MPS, blame is typically placed on a previous caregiver as part of the deception and to provide a scapegoat.  In the political version of MPS, instead of an incompetent nanny the New Dealers (and Obama) create populist villains, Hoover, Wall Street, Bankers, or G.W. Bush.

The denial of reality is crucial.

Roosevelt was able to successfully perpetrate the initial abuse because the science of international global economics was in its infancy. The mobilization and technical boom brought about by WW I, coupled with laissez-faire capitalism, led to the boom of the Roaring Twenties. This put an end to agricultural based economies of the past.

Hoover proved to be Roosevelt's perfect fall guy, largely because Hoover failed to understand the enormity of the problem of deflation and he retreated into personal depression. This withdrawal made Hoover an easy scapegoat.

The simple truth was that Roosevelt and Hoover were remarkably similar men. Their principle difference was that Hoover believed in staying within Constitutional boundaries. Roosevelt (Obama) viewed the Constitution as an impediment to progress. Both men made major mistakes largely because neither understood the ability of free markets to self-correct without government intervention.  The simple proof that the New Deal policies did not work was the recession inside the Depression in the autumn of 1937.

"American Capitalism did not break in 1929. The crash did not cause the Depression. It was a necessary correction of a too-high stock market, but not a necessary disaster." Pg.5, The Forgotten Man

Coolidge's laissez-faire policies had in fact worked, the Dow Jones Stock Market Index would not equal its high of 381 on September 3rd, 1933 until the 1950's and full employment would not return until 1943.

Just as the MPS parent needs crisis and chaos to succeed in the abuse of a child, Obama Democrats create the crisis and chaos necessary for MPS to succeed in their abuse of the forgotten man.

The Obama Administration cynically follows FDR's model. As Obama's new Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel revealed:

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.  What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before."

H.L. Mencken also said:

"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods."

That statement has never been truer than it is today.

*Munchausen by proxy syndrome (MBPS), or Factitious Disorder by Proxy, as it's listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition, Text Revision, also known as DSM-IV-TR).


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: communistsicko; munchausenbyproxy; obama; psychiatry
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IMHO, the author's analogy and analysis are dead on. Obama's strategy, socialized health care, “green energy,” and a big-government state, it’s to his advantage for things to get worse., isn't, IMHO. It's easy to understand why he's tired. He can't sleep with such a lame strategy. Green jobs are very expensive, especially when there's global cooling. Socialized health care is never popular. It's rationing.
1 posted on 03/09/2009 12:21:33 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Hear, hear! Great analysis!


2 posted on 03/09/2009 12:25:56 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet ("To insist on strength is not war-mongering. It is peace-mongering." Barry Goldwater)
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To: neverdem

zero is not only evil, he is one sick s.o.b.


3 posted on 03/09/2009 12:38:05 AM PDT by JDoutrider
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To: neverdem

Great piece.

Now that the problem has been so well described, what are we going to do to fix it... before he and his pals take us all down to a point from which we can no longer recover?


4 posted on 03/09/2009 12:41:46 AM PDT by Gator113 (For America to survive, Obama must fail.....)
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To: wardaddy; Joe Brower; Cannoneer No. 4; Criminal Number 18F; Dan from Michigan; Eaker; Jeff Head; ...
Barack Obama 'too tired' to give proper welcome to Gordon Brown

How the Great Depression brought Adolf Hitler to power Few analogies are perfect, but I liked the whole thread.

Dems falling apart over Omnibus spending bill

Warming's Icy Reputation - A Cooling Trend Afoot?

Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

5 posted on 03/09/2009 12:49:30 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

The situation is even worse than Obama’s doing all he can to make the economy collapse, so that he can be seen as savior. What will emerge will not be a capitalist country, but a dictatorship exactly on the order of Cuba and Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Those closest to Obama all his life among his family and friends have been individuals devoted to destroying this country, period: to destroy capitalism, religion, and a military devoted to guarding freedom and to take control of a completely Communist totalitarian state. The Weather Underground, who bombed government offices and killed police in the 1960s and got away with it and were for decades Obama’s close friends are now the “Weather Above Ground” and they’re operating from the White House.

Obama is a facade. The content of his emphatic, polished speeches show he knows nothing about anything. His lack of understanding of issues is apparent. Surely the American public will soon begin to catch on. The man who has set in motion unfathomable spending calls “price/earnings ratio,” by the name “profit earnings ratio.” As a Marxist, he hates the word “profit,” except, of course, when he himself is the recipient, as in Fanny Mae and Freddie Mack bribing him to vote for regulations forcing banks to give mortgages to those unqualified to receive them. Is he really convincing people that this is change they can believe in? The bubble will burst soon, as he knows. As the economic crisis worsens, the people’s revolution that is part of the Marxist plan that now bears the name “Obama Administration” will be right on schedule. A dictator will step in.


6 posted on 03/09/2009 12:59:54 AM PDT by Seeing More Clearly Now
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To: neverdem

yep. right on!


7 posted on 03/09/2009 1:05:58 AM PDT by GOP Poet
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To: Seeing More Clearly Now

Great Title!


8 posted on 03/09/2009 1:07:20 AM PDT by SanFranDan
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To: neverdem

Headline of the year nominee bump!


9 posted on 03/09/2009 1:42:22 AM PDT by andyandval
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To: neverdem

That is a perfect analogy. I’m so tired of hearing the “we inherited this” thing...inherited it from themselves!


10 posted on 03/09/2009 2:10:46 AM PDT by highlander_UW (The only difference between the MSM and the DNC is the MSM sells ad space in their propaganda)
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To: neverdem

The one major difference is that FDR had the (luck) fortune of needing manufacturing for all of his programs, and some were actually good and needed, like the highway system. Obama’s trying to recreate the success of the New Deal, while ignoring the failures of it and is not seeing what made it work.

Obama’s plan is all about spending, but FDR’s, while stupid and drug out the Depression longer than necessary, did at least do some foundational building. And provided more jobs and technology in the long run. This new “New Deal” is just going to crash and burn.


11 posted on 03/09/2009 2:51:59 AM PDT by autumnraine (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose- Kris Kristoferrson VIVA LA REVOLUTION!)
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To: neverdem
A lot of people have drank the kool aid. I know a very intelligent woman who is a self proclaimed “Obama fan”. She is a nominal Republican.

When I said that Obama is doing all the wrong things Bush did, she said “You must watch Fox News all the time”.

I said. “I don't watch television”.

I was amazed at her opinion, but she gets most of her news from the MSM.

12 posted on 03/09/2009 3:26:16 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: neverdem

The title alone is brilliant!


13 posted on 03/09/2009 4:00:21 AM PDT by Born Conservative (Bohicaville: http://bohicaville.wordpress.com/)
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To: Seeing More Clearly Now
The Weather Underground, who bombed government offices and killed police in the 1960s and got away with it and were for decades Obama’s close friends are now the “Weather Above Ground” and they’re operating from the White House.

Good way of putting it! To me, his close association with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn was one of the biggest of the many big red flags about him. Yet the press and the voters just shrugged it off. But ideas do have consequences...

14 posted on 03/09/2009 4:17:31 AM PDT by livius
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To: JDoutrider

zero is not only evil, he is one sick s.o.b

Yep. He is evil because he’s a malignant narcissist who’s been promised historical greatness by powers in the shadows, and he wants it. He’s in way above his head, but he’s got the speech writers and the teleprompter to further the mission of those whose wish the downfall of our country.


15 posted on 03/09/2009 4:30:27 AM PDT by Bluebird Singing
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To: Tolik

Nails it.


16 posted on 03/09/2009 6:09:49 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Obama: Carter's only chance to avoid going down in history as the worst U.S. president ever.)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: neverdem

We were talking about this during the campaign. Someone abandoned by his natural father, stuck on such issues, would be susceptible to such hysteria. The all-protective Nanny State to the rescue to make things all better, providing the sense of power, security, and identity. Obama, rather than being unworthy of the parents' love, becomes the hero as he runs to the rescue of the almost hopeless patient. Showered with love and adoring devotion as the healer and messiah, he is now worthy. A lot of fatherless liberals and socialists have this syndrome. You would find Munchausen-by-proxy liberals and various other neurotics among his followers. PETA fanatics and Post-Abortion Rage Syndrome as well.All rushing to co-dependency with Obama and the Nanny State.

Is it time for an intervention?

Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism

18 posted on 03/09/2009 7:21:55 AM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: Gator113
Now that the problem has been so well described, what are we going to do to fix it...

Start talking politics to neighbors, friends and kids.

Smackdown! By Independents & Moderates [2006 exit poll results]

Why? Because exit polls show there's a large chunk of the electorate that is moderate, independent-minded and turned off by partisanship. In exit polls, 47 percent of voters described their views as moderate, 21 percent liberal and 32 percent conservative. And 61 percent of the moderates voted Democratic this year.

On party identification, 26 percent said they're Independent, which is in line with recent elections. But this year, Independents went Democratic by a 57-39 margin. That's what gave the day to Democrats. In the 2002 midterm, by contrast, Independents went Republican in a 48-45 split.

Enemies of the White House - Discontent is growing on the center-right. [2008 exit poll results]

Only 22 percent identified themselves as liberal, while 34 percent were conservatives and 44 percent moderates.

Those results are within the margin of error. They are probably stable. There are many moderates and Independents, including probably small 'l' libertarians that can vote for the GOP, if they hear a better message. Obama's message is just doom. The under thirty year age old cohort voted for Obama 2 to 1 against McCain. In 2010, we'll have had 4 years of this idiotic Congress. Throw the bums out!

How The Democrats Caused The Financial Crisis: Starring Bill Clinton's HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo And Barack Obama; With Special Guest Appearances By Bill Clinton And Jimmy Carter

Rat fingerprints are all over the housing bubble and stock market collapse from the Community Reinvestment Act to loosening of credit standards for the loans bought up by Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae to resistance in Congress for oversight of Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. Throw the bums out!

19 posted on 03/09/2009 9:21:55 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

Okay, this too.


20 posted on 03/09/2009 9:23:03 AM PDT by bvw
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