A number of videos and comments on Youtube and elsewhere have compared the personality cult surrounding Barack Obama with Adolph Hitler, drawing parallels among other things with the way that thuggish supporters have tried to silence Obama’s opponents, the way people like the Black Panthers - in a manner similar to Hitler’s Brownshirts - tried to stop people voting, and the way the media has been manipulated in his favor, just as it was in Hitler’s day.

There have been further parallels drawn with the way Obama has got support from leading businessmen like George Soros, Warren Buffett, the owners of Google and Youtube among others, while Hitler too had support from top industrialists - like steel tycoons Alfred Krupp and Fritz Thyssen - who contributed huge amounts to Hitler’s funds and mistakenly believed that they could make Hitler dance to their tune.

Some have also drawn parallels between Obama and other charismatic leaders who led their followers to oblivion, including David Koresh of the Branch Davidian and Jim Jones of the Jonestown mass suicide. Saddam Hussein is another that springs to mind.

One thing that all these people had in common, apart from being the center of charismatic personality cults, was that they all became recklessly suicidal when things began to go wrong, and took as many people down with them as they could.

This is a prospect that I find even more disturbing than talk of Obama’s socialist leanings and his connection with unsavory people like Jeremiah Wright and terrorists like Bill Ayres.

What led to the downfall of these charismatic leaders and their followers was the idolatry surrounding them and the huge weight of expectations that rested on them.

The pressures of such idolatry and expectations can unhinge even the most well balanced and well-intentioned people. But most if not all of these people were not exactly well balanced, however persuasive they might have been with their followers.

Most if not all suffered problems of self esteem following traumatic childhoods, like Obama’s father abandoning his family, and being moved around from place to place as a child and not being able to settle.

A common result of such childhood trauma and the low self esteem it generates is a deep-seated need for approval and acclamation, and in this Obama has probably exceeded his wildest dreams. He has become an idol to millions and millions.

One of the big dangers is that the objects of such idolatry begin to believe their own hype. Even if they don’t, they almost inevitably begin to lose touch with reality.

It’s what killed Elvis Presley in the end. He became an object of worship and he couldn’t cope with it. He was after all just a simple country boy and this idolatry pushed him increasingly into a world in which he no longer had any idea of where reality began or ended.

Nobody can cope with the pressure of such idolatry, and nobody can cope with the kind of expectations Obama’s followers have heaped upon his shoulders. Like the expectations of the woman who expected Obama to pay her mortgage and her gas bills.

Now she was not alone in this. It is obvious that there are many, many people who believe that Obama is going to be the answer to all their problems. And the sad, the tragic thing is, he is not.

In a way the whole situation reminds me of the time in 1960 when the Congo region of Africa gained its independence from Belgium. The people of the Congo thought this was going to be the end of hunger and the start of prosperity for all. People teemed into the city from the countryside carrying buckets and baskets and anything else they could find to hold all the good things they expected to be given as a result of national independence. And of course they were sadly disappointed.

The totally unrealistic expectations surrounding Obama are not too far removed from the expectations ifrom the the Congo during that time, and it these unrealistic expectations that have led to some vomit-inducing hymns of praise for a man who has proved nothing so far except that he is a very skillful talker and a great manipulator of people, just as Hitler was.

Now one can understand and sympathize to some extent with the fact that to many people he represents a triumph over racism, even though some might argue that there has been reverse racism with the vast majority of black Americans voting for him even though he was the least qualified of all the candidates.

But the feelings of many Obama supporters have gone far beyond the realms of sanity or reality. For many people Obama has become a cult figure, and the history of cult figures shows they are extremely vulnerable to self-destruction.

In the past, when expectations have exceeded the reality of what is possible, the tendency has been for those in power to take reckless measures, and this is one of the dangers we face with Obama. Added to this is the fact that with no experience of government, he has no solid foundation on which to base any decisions.

I suspect that Obama may already be increasingly disturbed by the idolatry and expectations surrounding him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he holds many of his followers in contempt for the impossible things they expect of him, a man with no real training or experience to govern the most powerful nation in the world.

But there are many signs that Obama actually believes in his own hype, and that is the most frightening thing of all.

Step aside, LD! We have the genius now:

There were times that TalkLeft’s Big Tent Democrat (BTD) — who used to be Armando, a very powerful player at Daily Kos, until … (we won’t go there) — made a WHOLE LOT of sense during this election season. After disappearing from Daily Kos, BTD joined up with Jeralyn Merritt. BTD was always for Obama, but he often wrote honest critiques of Obama. Jeralyn was for Hillary during the primaries, but she instantly drank the KoolAid Hopium. And, you know, there was always something pitifully naive about Jeralyn. (I can’t bring up a specific instance at the moment, but often replied to Andy’s e-mails to me about something Jeralyn wrote with, “Boy, is she naive.”) BTD? He’s a lot of things, but he is NEVER naive, and I truly appreciate that about him.

Anyway, the dense and venally offensive John Cole decided to attack BTD today because BTD dared to speak the truth about “The One.” I quote BTD who the venal John Cole calls “Moron“:

As expected, the Obama Cult does not like to read any questioning of their Dear Leader. They demand we all STFU.
***
What I can not understand is the ridiculous Cult of Obama who believes that not a negative or questioning word should be said about Obama ever. Oh sure, they’ll say “wait till he is President.” But then they’ll say “wait till he finishes his first year.” And after that, “wait for the mid terms.” And then “wait until after reelection.” In short, members of a cult can never have the leader of the cult criticized. That is how the Republicans have done it, and no one is as zealous as a convert.

Not to worry, they’ll be singing the “SYFP” song for the next 8 years and we’ll keep ignoring them. For some of us, it is the issues, not the pol.

The venal one replies, in his piece titled “We’re a Cult, and You’re A … Moron” — and I’m quoting it so you don’t have to click on the link and give the venal one any hits:

GET OFF ON YOUR BAD SELF, YOU PARAGON OF PRINCIPLE, YOU!

With Democrats like this, who needs Red State? If there was anyone who was more tedious during this last election cycle than Armando, aka Big Tent Democrat, let me know. Besides turning one of my favorite sites, TalkLeft, into a pseudo-Puma cess-pool during the primaries (But he supports Obama, dont’cha know- speaking for him only!), BTD’s bigger sin was dispensing bad advice to the Obama campaign on an almost daily basis. If concern trolling was an art form, BTD would be Michelangelo and the 2008 Democratic primary his Sistine Chapel.

Because I am short on patience, and, at heart, a compassionate person, I am not going to go through the TalkLeft archives and dig up where BTD gravely intones that Obama can not win the white vote, can not win the Jewish vote, can not win the Hispanic vote, and on and on. I will not dig up all the stupid god damned advice he gave to the Obama campaign (which they, thank GOD, ignored). I will not look up the umpteen posts where the left’s own pompous village idiot warned that Obama could not win without Hillary on the ticket. I will not dig up the polling data that he consistently misread and always curiously interpreted as showing a need for Hillary on the ticket. I will let you do that for yourself, and you can enjoy your own historical retrospective into BTD’s idiocy. Yes, I voted for Bush twice, but I proudly state I am not as stupid as BTD. Period. …

You can read the rest of We’re a Cult, and You’re A … Moron if you want. It’s a free country, and a few hits won’t help him that much.

I suppose he makes some points in that last paragraph quoted. Many of us at No Quarter ALSO thought Obama couldn’t win the general election — for many of the same reasons that BTD cited.

Here is my list of reasons for that astonishing, against-all-common-sense win:

1) In-the-tank mainstream media
2) John McCain, who was NOT the same John McCain of 2000 — just a tad too old and no longer the maverick of yore. (If the John McCain of 2000 had run, I believe he could have won.)
3) In-the-tank mainstream media
4) Obamabot and Obama Campaign Thuggery and Intimidation
5) In-the-tank mainstream media
6) Obamabot and Obama Campaign Thuggery and Intimidation
7) In-the-tank mainstream media
Obamabot and Obama Campaign Thuggery and Intimidation
9) In-the-tank mainstream media
10) Obamabot and Obama Campaign Thuggery and Intimidation

ADD TO THIS LIST!

OPEN THREAD!

………………….

See also: Bronwyn’s “Don’t you wish we were as superior and elite as TalkLeft’s Jeralyn Merritt?”

Compliments of Deadenders.

From my blog, Uppity Woman.

I have to tell you that this video of the woman in ecstasy discussing how Barack Obama will make it she won’t have to worry about gas or her mortgage remains the single most searched line that brings readers to this site in the past three days.

The post still receives a minimum of 600 reads daily. I thought you might like to see the Google search lines people are using to find out if The One will give them free gasoline and pay off their home mortgages for them. I think it provides a glimpse into what people are thinking……….and what some are expecting.

obama pay gas mortgage

Obama will pay my mortgage

fill up my gas pay my mortgage

obama pay my mortgage fill my gas

obama will pay for my car

obama will pay my mortgafe **

barack obama will pay my mortgage and fi

obama pay gas mortgage

“i won’t have to worry about filling up

obama pay for my gas mortgage

obama will pay my mortgage

i won’t have to fill my gas tank

obama fill up my tank

will obama pay my mortgage

I almost feel sorry for them. They are going to be sadly disappointed. Either that, or a large portion of tax-paying Americans are going to become expatriots in a huge hurry.

Notice how none of them uses the words “tax payer” when referring to free gas and houses. It’s “Obama” they refer to. I would think more appropriate search strings would be:

“I voted for OoooooooooooBaaaaaaaaaMaaaaaaa. He Barrrrrracksss! So where’s my house and free money and free self-esteem and stuff? He promised!”

” When will Obama suck the blood of tax payers so that I can get a free home and gas?”

I want my free gas but I don’t have a car. Can I get a free car too?

“How soon can I expect tax payers in America to be as dirt poor and on-the-take as I am?”

“How many Americans will be moving to other countries just as soon as Obama announces that they will have to pay their own mortgages and mine too?”.

“If I buy a whole bunch of things I can’t afford, like a house, a car, and a couple of flat screen TVs, how long will it take for Obama to get everybody else to pay for all of them?”

“If I don’t care to work and have no income, what price range should I shop in when I am looking for my free house?. Will there be any limits to the mortgage I can default on?”

“How soon before Obama lets me just take somebody else’s house?”

“How much free gas can I get monthly for the car I can’t afford after Obama pays it off with other people’s money?”

“My neighbor has a way better house than I do. He’s hardly ever there because he works all the time just like a typical capitalist pig. Can’t I just have his house?”

“After I get my house for free and can’t afford the utilities, maintenance and taxes, will Obama raise taxes some more so he can take care of that for me?”

“After the taxpayers bail out all the mortgage companies that went down because they gave mortgages to people like me, how soon will I be able to get my new house by forcing them to give me a mortgage?

I voted for Obama and I have pretty much spent down all my parents’ savings and they can’t afford my car lease and insurance, cell phone contract and other important stuff– so there’s no sense of living with them any longer. When can I expect my free house and money and stuff?

** I personally would feel a bit skittish about providing a mortgage contract to someone who cannot spell “mortgage”. I would bet that it’s safe to say that a person who cannot spell “mortgage” probably wouldn’t read the contract before signing it–nor would they bring someone who could spell “mortgage” to read it for them before they signed– thus leaving us all with the financial burden of their “victimization”.

::::::::::

From my blog, Uppity Woman.

When my son first saw this video he commented that I was the world’s worst, or at least the most ridiculous rapper. But at least he found it highly amusing. And he was quite proud after a New York rapper saw the video on Youtube and asked permission to turn it into a different kind of rap song, ultimately producing something my son thought was “brilliant”. (Of course I prefer my own version, but then I might be a little prejudiced. Also, it would be a little ridiculous of me to prefer a version that belongs to the kind of rap I was attacking in my my anti-rap rap. But at least the New York rapper agreed with me that too much rap reflected aggressive posturing and deameaning attitudes towards women and relationships.)

Check out all of Old Grumpy Guy’s videos and excellent essays published here at NoQuarterUSA.

Giving him his due, Charlie Rose’s show last night (damn, the video isn’t up yet!) is very interesting — David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, has particularly insightful remarks. Michael Beschloss, the presidential historian, is also on, and I always get the giggles when I see him because I recall how the great Yale Shakespearean scholar Harold Bloom verbally condemned Beschloss and his books to the ash heap of history, as only the acerbic Professor Bloom can.

Charlie’s show last night includes a segment aired in June 2008 with the three Emanuel brothers. You’ve probably heard the remark that his mother said that Rahm is the least successful of her three sons, one being a renowned physician and the other being such a great Hollywood agent that HBO’s “Entourage” character Ari was inspired by the real Ari Emanuel. Perhaps NOW Rahm’s mom will grant Rahm equal status! I write that with affection, all the politics aside. Ah! I found the video of the three brothers last June, in full. Now, POLITICS ASIDE, this should be a fascinating show to listen to (Charlie’s videos rarely require that one also watch, so you can browse our blog and the Web while listening) + I found the YouTube snippet of the show:

In fact, I INSIST that you watch this entire show because Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D. has written what the famed economist Larry Summers (now an Obama economic adviser) calls the most important book on health care — and his ideas may well contribute substantively to the new health care systems for this nation! (I SO HOPE that that plan will be called the Clinton Plan, since it must be HILLARY CLINTON who introduces and succeeds in getting a health care plan for ALL Americans! She deserves nothing less.)

That was the more positive, interesting and forward-looking side of politics at present. Then there’s this: Someone sent me this comment that was posted at Atlas Shrugs. Okay, I’m scratching my head. We get this kind of sociopathic and sometimes psychopathic behavior here too. What happened in four years to change “Democrats” (I use the term advisedly) from civilized people into monstrous thugs?

In 2004, which I recall vividly, we sort of glared at the Kerry supporters at the county convention, and they sort of glared at us, but that was it! In the end — it took a while — we joined in supporting Kerry because at least he had SOME qualifications. When Kerry lost, we were grief-stricken, but soldiered on. Together. But now? Whatever happened to far too many of you?

You people are pathetic!

Your racist fear mongering will not go unchallenged! Soon we will shut down your hate spewing web sites. We will confiscate your firearms. In prison, you will get an education on the error of your ways. We will take your children and raise them as our own and instill in them the values of social justice. We will have a new American Republic of justice and order for all!

You time is almost up! Prepare for the dung heap of history!

Of note, Atlas Shrugs — whose writers would not probably want much to do with me because I’m too liberal for their tastes, but who cares — has a couple articles worth perusing, described below:

SCOTUS SOUTER TELLS OBAMA TO PRODUCE BIRTH CERTIFICATE DECEMBER 1 UPDATED: /OR NOT

– I hope this is entirely true and thoroughly fact-checked. We haven’t taken the considerable days (not hours) it would require to even begin to study this, and we’d need the expertise of many attorneys. So, all i hope is that this story has merit.

PERHAPS IT WAS AHMAD NIHAD’S APARTMENT….

Snippet:

How gruesome. Terrible. Imagine they planning that goes into such a thing. Planning by what was arguably the most modern, cultured state in Europe. So close at our backs, the damaged still walk among us with vacant eyes.

   
Report: Plans for Auschwitz found in Berlin apartment

Those so odious, and sociopathic and psychopathic would find much in common with some people in the U.S. who despise and wish to destroy all who disagree with them: the THUGS who are so mentally ill that, in the midst of a historic victory, they cannot stop hating for one second.

:::::::

* Footnote: Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, based on state-of-the-art forensics, although the body of her three-year-old Kaylee hasn’t been found yet. (I am adding this because one of our writers, who doesn’t watch cable news, didn’t know who Casey Anthony is, and asked me to explain.)

This is one of those cases that has seized the attention of all the cable news networks. This is, and it makes me so upset, yet another instance in which a missing WHITE child or woman gets all the attention and resources of cable news outlets, whereas a missing BLACK or BROWN child rarely gets any attention. And it shames CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News that they go overboard on missing WHITE children or women — particularly if they’re pretty — but so rarely focus on children or women who are not white.

It must outrage people of color everywhere. And they deserve to be outraged.

Why didn’t they say this in their magazine BEFORE the election?

Yesterday I shared with you the audio of Tom Brokaw being interviewed by Charlie Rose where both men admit they don’t know who Obama really is or what he intends to do in office. Now, a post election admission from Jon Meacham and Evan Thomas of Newsweek; also interviewed by Charlie Rose. Audio is provided with commentary by Rush Limbaugh (transcript):

MEACHAM: You know, they don’t let him out. And have you ever seen a victory speech where there was no one else on stage?

ROSE: Mmm.

MEACHAM: No adoring wife, no cute kid. He is the messenger.

THOMAS: There is a slightly creepy cult of personality about all this. I mean, he’s such an admirable –

ROSE: Slightly. Creepy. Cult of personality.

THOMAS: Yes.

ROSE: What’s slightly creepy about it?

THOMAS: It — it — it just makes me a little uneasy that he’s so singular. He’s clearly managing his own spectacle. He’s a deeply manipulative guy.

RUSH: Now, let me tell you what they’re saying that they’re not saying. We’ve seen this before. We have seen this creepy cult of personality. We have seen this singular, managing his own spectacle. We’ve seen this deeply manipulative guy. We saw this before. They are scared. They are not saying that, but I hear fear. Here’s the next bite. Charlie Rose continues here with a question.

ROSE: Watching him last night in that speech, he finishes –

MEACHAM: Yeah.

ROSE: — and he sort of — it’s almost like he then ascends to look at the circumstance.

MEACHAM: He watches us watching him.

THOMAS: Watching him!

ROSE: Exactly!

THOMAS: He does –

MEACHAM: It’s amazing.

ROSE: It is amazing.

THOMAS: He writes about this metaphor being a screen upon which Americans will project. He said they want of Barack Obama; I’m not sure I am Barack Obama.

ROSE: Mmm!

THOMAS: He had — he has the self-awareness to know that this creature he’s designed isn’t necessarily a real person, and he’s self-aware enough –

ROSE: Ahhhhhh!

RUSH: Ahhhh. Charlie Rose, light goes on, ahhhh. Self-aware enough to know that this creature he’s designed isn’t necessarily a real person.

That is fear. These guys are looking at Obama and they’ve seen him the exact way we have, all of this time. They only now after they think they got him into office are now starting to talk about their fears about how nobody knows anything about him, his resume is thin, he’s only written two books, and they’re autobiographies, we don’t know what other books he’s read. Yes, we do.

We don’t know anything about him. It’s creepy, never seen a victory speech with nobody on stage — what is this making fun of Biden, by the way?

Locking Biden in the bar so he doesn’t come out? Look at all they hid. Look at all that they refused to report.

They had plenty of chances to write editorials at Newsweek magazine, and they didn’t write one reflective of what they really saw and know and fear about Obama.

At what point will Meacham and Thomas, along with Brokaw and so many others face the fact that they committed journalistic malpractice by hiding the character concerns they are only now sharing about Obama?

Were they just tooooo busy digging dirt on Sarah Palin’s children and Joe the Plumber to tell the American people what a “creepy,” “manipulative,” “creature” Obama is?

…………..

Read the original post and comments at Flopping Aces’ “Newsweek Editors: Obama a “Creepy,” “Deeply Manipulative,” “Creature”.

Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal

President-elect Barack Obama’s newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot “red flags,” according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com. According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between the years 2000 and 2002. Emanuel was not named in the SEC complaint (click here to read (SEC complaint)) but the entire board was later accused by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) (click here to read) of having “failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention.”

Read all: Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal

Thanks, NewHampster!

And what other outrages are goin’ on out there?!?!?!?!?

BTW, this is a North Carolina teacher, From Fayetteville. Fayetteville is where a huge Army base, Fort Bragg, is located. According to the poster at YouTube:

Teacher Diantha Harris browbeats McCain supporting student, Kathy, in . . . N. Carolina grade school. The poor girl is obviously distressed over the teacher’s line of questiong (sic) and belittling her choice of candidate in front of her school mates.

Read the rest ->

Belchspeak (yep, that’s the name) gives some background on the video:

This video is part of a Finnish documentary on Obama fans, and it is shocking that you have to go to a foreign country to learn what goes on in our own classrooms.

The blogger adds this part:

See how she singles out the little white girl and mocks her for having an absent parent, who is off defending the country, and lies to her, saying her Dad would have to stay in Iraq for a hundred years? The little girl was ready to cry! Disgusting.

Hey, my SO already did two tours in Iraq. If this lady said to me what she said to that little girl, we’d have words. Unfortunately, that little girl can’t defend herself against her “teacher.”