Twisted Cry for Help

by D. J. Herda

We don't often think of politicians as being people in dire need of emotional help.  I mean, all obvious puns aside.

Yet, on April 13, in the president's "Eat-my-words" scolding of all Americans everywhere, Obama offered his take on what the nation needs to do to reduce spending and balance the budget.  He offered it, in fact, for nearly 30 minutes of nonstop condemnation of previous administrations for getting us into a 14-trillion-dollar hole without ever hinting at the possibility that he is responsible for wielding the shovel that dug out more than $12 trillion worth of new debt.

Then he went on to admonish Americans everywhere that we can no longer afford to spend at such inflationary rates. 

Now, I don't blame Obama for not visiting the bad news on himself and his administration.  I suppose that's why V.P. Joe Biden took that as an opportunity to catch up on a little shut-eye.  After all, psychopaths live in a world of lies created in order to avoid having to deal with reality.  Certainly Obama is the greatest psychopath to occupy the White House since Bill Clinton, who swore "I did not have sex with that woman."  And he was the worst since Tricky Dick, who walked the halls nightly during the Watergate fiasco holding séances with Abraham Lincoln.  Nothing wrong with that guy either.

In Obama's mind, he would save the nation from a GOP plan that slashes away at "worthwhile programs" leading to “a fundamentally different America than we grew up with” (gee, we thought that was Obama's goal).  The GOP would screw everyone from college students to Medicare patients who would get cheapo vouchers.  And, if you listen to his shrew-in-chief Nancy Pelosi, the conservatives would leave millions of seniors "out on their own" to starve to death.

Not surprisingly, Obama slammed Paul Ryan’s proposed "tax breaks for the wealthy," claiming that they would reduce Ryan's own bill by $200,000 on the backs of seniors—concluding that neither Ryan nor Warren Buffett needs the money.

But when it came to his own blueprint for slashing the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years, a plan that all economists say is poorly designed and grossly insufficient, Obama painted in the broadest of strokes. 

This Community Organizer-in-Chief said he would cut Pentagon spending (but not how), while protecting medical research (but not how), clean energy (but not how), new airports (but not how), job training (but not how), and more.  He would cut spending on prescription drugs through "negotiations" and slow Medicare spending through an independent commission. Which is a little like saying Donald is tired of being a duck and is going to reinvent himself as a totally different cartoon character (a real Mickey Mouse idea, by the way). 

The one place where the Psychodent was specific about making cuts was in taking on the wealthy—not merely by killing the Bush-era tax rates, but also by limiting itemized deductions for the richest 2% of all Americans for home ownership and charitable write-offs.  And to hell with equality under law for all Americans.  Besides, wealthy Americans aren't really Americans, are they?

To ensure the success of his attack, Obama said he would institute some sort of mandatory spending cuts in 2014 if his plan somehow "falls short of its target," although he naturally failed to say what those mandatory cuts would entail.

Now, I admit it.  I may not be the best person in the world to comment on this man's fiscal proposal.  Perhaps I'm not the most forgiving and benevolent of journalists to critique the president's un-plan.  Perhaps I come by that honestly (after all, I am an author, and I DO deal with editors every day of my life). 

But it seems to me that the Psychodent's appeal for a return to the good ol' days of Ronald Reagan/Tip O’Neill bipartisanship and a cry for political niceness that only he seems to be willing to define is a mess.  By avoiding the hard answers, grinning into the teleprompters, and evading the hard questions on everyone's minds, he has convinced himself that he is leading the race for the 2012 White House.  And, most importantly of all, will win.  And that is key.

Rhetoric, after all, is more important to a psychopath than is reality.

Ask Joe Biden.  When he wakes up.

And I…am D. J. Herda.

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D. J. Herda is President of the American Society of Authors and Writers (http://amsaw.org), an organization made up of authors, writers, editors, publishers, agents, directors, producers, and other media professionals who rely upon the printed word in the creation of quality literature and entertainment.  He is a member of the Author's Guild, a former member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and a former member of the National Press Club.  He has published more than 80 books and several hundred thousand articles, short stories, columns, interviews, plays, and scripts.
 

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