Obamanation Prepares for Apologies to World

There is a fashion these days for apologies: not apologies for the things that one has actually done oneself (that kind of apology is as difficult to make and as unfashionable as ever), but for public apologies by politicians for the crimes and misdemeanours of their ancestors, or at least of their predecessors. I think it is reasonable to call this pattern of political breast-beating the False Apology Syndrome.

You owe me an apology. Of course you do. But I will be magnanimous and apologise to your first! Yes, and I will even apologise for things I did not even do! You owe me an apology. But I am better than you are, and my apologies to the entire world will prove just how good I am!

Mr. Blair, the then British prime minister, apologized to the Irish for the famine; one of the first public acts of Mr. Rudd, the Australian prime minister, was to apologize to the Aborigines for the dispossession of their continent; Pope John Paul II apologized to the Muslims for the Crusades. There are many other examples, and there are also demands for apologies by aggrieved, or supposedly aggrieved, groups.

What is this all about, and what does it signify? Does it mean that at long last the powerful are making a genuine effort to see things from the point of view of the weak, or is it, on the contrary, a form of moral exhibitionism that subverts genuine moral thought and conduct?

....official apologies for distant events, however important or pregnant with consequences those events may have been, are another matter entirely. They have bad effects on both those who give them and those who receive them.

The effect on the givers is the creation of a state of spiritual pride. Insofar as the person offering the apology is doing what no one has done before him, he is likely to consider himself the moral superior of his predecessors. He alone has had the moral insight and courage to apologize.

On the other hand, he knows full well that he has absolutely no personal moral responsibility for whatever it is that he is apologizing for. In other words, his apology brings him all kudos and no pain. _Incharacter

What kind of person would indulge in such sanctimonious and pompous faux humility? A person with a very strong ego, perhaps even a narcissistic personality. If America chooses Obamanation, will Obama's deeply ingrained narcissism bring him to the Altar of Apologies? You can bet on it.

Narcissism is a defense mechanism whose role is to deflect hurt and trauma from the victim's "True Self" into a "False Self" which is omnipotent, invulnerable, and omniscient. This False Self is then used by the narcissist to garner narcissistic supply from his human environment. Narcissistic supply is any form of attention, both positive and negative and it is instrumental in the regulation of the narcissist's labile sense of self-worth.

Perhaps the most immediately evident trait of patients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is their vulnerability to criticism and disagreement. Subject to negative input, real or imagined, even to a mild rebuke, a constructive suggestion, or an offer to help, they feel injured, humiliated and empty and they react with disdain (devaluation), rage, and defiance. _Source

And since the "False Self" is invulnerable, it can afford to apologise for things it knows full well it shares no responsibility for bringing about. In fact, false apologies are another form of defense mechanism--a pre-emptive defense.

But we all know that in the current atmosphere of national and international politics, law, and economy, an apology is never just an apology. Sometimes, an apology is a blank check. If Obamanation writes blank check apologies to be drawn on the Federal Treasury, the current outcry about a porky $700 billion + bailout crafted by Pelosi and Pals will be quickly forgotten in the sinking sickness of a growing malaise that will be based upon reality for a change.

And it looks as if that is precisely the type of apology that Obamanation is preparing to issue to the oppressed of the nation and the world. Apologies that lay the groundwork for massive and ongoing compensation to any and all who can place their claim before Obamanation with sufficient force and emotion. Prepare yourselves, Americans. This is a time to be sorry. Very, very, sorry.