Obama hatred: A sin far worse than racism, says Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan has a more subtle, more psychoanalytic,  more Freudian and Jungian,  less Southern,  and more nuanced understanding ,  I believe,  than does former President Jimmy Carter,   of Obama's problem.   

 Sullivan has accused the right not of racism,  but of projecting their guilt and the guilt of W Bush onto Obama,  a crime far more complex and subtle than mere racism.  Sullivan  calls it "shadow projection",  in reference to that nasty state which the great CG Jung called the gravest state that a human could fall into:  To be unaware of one's own guilt and self -hatred.  On September 14 in his "Daily Dish"  column for Atlantic magazine,  Sullivan wrote that:

The right is projecting its shadow onto Obama. The same qualities that make him a saint to the left make him the devil to the right -- he is easy to project onto.

Source: andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

This is a very subtle and highly nuanced charge,  differentiated from mere racism.  In fact,  to those of us who are familiar with the profound writings of Sigmund Freud,  CG Jung,  Kierkegaard,  Erich Fromm,  Nietzsche,  Theodore Reik,  it is a charge which carries a moral indictment far worse than the indictment against simple racism  -  hatred of the other  -  does.  The venerable gay theorist and commentator continues,  and in his closing,  gives a weighty warning ,  sounding the alarm in a manner far more profound and far less easily contested than did  House Speaker  Nancy Pelosi yesterday:

That is why he is the out-of-control spender when they sat on their hands through all of Bush's malfeasance.   That is why his talking to schoolchildren is dangerous when our government wiretapping its citizens wasn't.   That is why saving the financial system from years of Republican regulation is taking away our future.   The more evil revealed about the right's excesses on torture, or wars of choice, or nearly destroying the economy, the more evil Obama will look in their eyes, as they cannot tolerate owning responsibility, because in their own minds they are only good.. . That is why he is the Fascist/Communist/Socialist/Muslim… that is the list of our shadow projections over the last 60 years. In their minds he is now the USSR ("my grandchildren will have to stand in line for toilet paper!") or even the Anti-Christ. The Obama they see is a projection of their own psyche, not that actual man in the White House. Missing birth certificates, death panels, indoctrinating children, these are all the projections running in their own heads, not things happening in the real world.

Racism makes Obama the Other, but shadow projection is an even more powerful (if interrelated) force than simple racism, and it is very susceptible to the mob mentality – think Goldberg in Orwell’s 1984. This will not end well. Now that Obama is carrying their shadow, only a dramatic event from outside could change it. (Or, they could gain awareness of their disowned dark side, and tolerating the inevitable pain of that experience, integrate into a healthy whole. This would require white, middle-class, middle-aged Americans - the primary protesters - to acknowledge that white middle class Americans are not all goodness and light and start taking responsibility for white privilege, their environmental choices, effects of class on economic status, etc. Don’t hold your breath.) The more those on the right deny their own failings, the more their internal unease will increase, the more the hatred to Obama will grow, and the more the need to do something will increase.

No wonder the far right is going bat shit crazy. In the movie playing in their minds, the enemy is within the gates.

Source: andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com