OC: AX-Rods

Bill Siegel

“Lying,” while best, perhaps carries too many legal and other overly broad implications for an audience of relativists. And “manipulating” is too technical absent detailed explanation. “Hoodwinking” lacks the requisite gravity. “Gaslighting” is, perhaps, the most accurate but today’s generation is unaware of the reference to one’s being persuaded to trust another’s fabricated explanations instead of her own “lying eyes.” Instead, we need a Google-Twitter-like word to describe the phenomenon presented by President Obama’s media maneuverings. Perhaps “Axelrodded” or “AX-Rod” for short (as “A-Rod” is already taken) will do. Just as Josef Goebbels trumpeted the value of the “Big Lie” for Adolph Hitler, David Axelrod has perfected the art of entrancing people in a “virtual” reality instead of the one we actually inhabit. And there is a method at work here. As made obvious from his healthcare and other policy plans, Obama’s target demo – those whom he seeks to enrapture – are the young as, once entranced, they will likely remain loyal and apply themselves to his cause. The old, however, are not only expendable as Obama’s healthcare “reform” makes clear. They are also targeted to pay for the delivery of the young, the illegals, and the minorities to the public dependency troughs all to solidify Obama’s hold on American power.

Axelrod is keenly aware that virtual reality – like that presented in video games – is, perhaps, the biggest draw for the young today. Given the increasingly intense anxieties that plague most of the young these days, Axelrod and Obama have perfected their craft of offering alternative realities for escape. Much as in the film The Matrix, where the true condition of the world was too threatening to be revealed, many today opt to take their own blue pill in order to submerge into a virtual delusion. Axelrod and Obama are only too happy to supply the coins to operate the virtual video games necessary to gaslight us all.

Here are just a few of the many AX-Rods used to keep the many spellbound:

The Scare Tactic Scare Tactic – Many Axelrod minions pepper the media with the charge that those who oppose Obama are using scare tactics. As the country divides into Obamaites and Nobamaites, whenever the Nobamaites suggest there is something serious to fear, (i.e. Islamic terrorism, the uncontrolled influx of illegal aliens, the potential annihilation of our economy from too great a deficit, debt balance and currency printing, Iranian nuclear weapons, the socialization of our capitalistic system, and so forth), the Obamaites charge that anyone disagreeing with Obama is simply utilizing fear to motivate viewers to oppose Obama. Similarly, any challenge to Obama’s policies (such as cap and trade, stimulus bills) on the grounds that these actions will make the current situation severely worse is met with a similar dose of scare tactic charges. And pointing out how Obama’s healthcare reform will destroy the health care to which we have become so accustomed (eventually leading to rationing of care, doctors, medicines etc.) is cast as a devious attempt to improperly scare the vulnerable elderly in particular.

One premise in this AX-Rod is that the world is not or should not be frightening and that any claim of danger holds no merit other than to manipulate. A secondary message here is that by describing these objections to Obama as scare tactics, Axelrod calms the listener. In doing so he is subliminally demonstrating Obama’s power to remove the fear. And when he, rather than Obama, is actually interviewed, he discharges this AX-Rod in the calmest of trained voices. The charge that an objection is a scare tactic removes the threat immediately in the mind of the listener who is then easily led back into Axelrod’s virtual reality where Obama, the Great Healer, makes all well.

Obama and Axelrod learned this in part from Saul Alinsky and in part from watching it being employed against Bush and Cheney for years. Simply put, the reality of what some are more comfortable hearing described as “radical Islam” was just too much for many Americans to absorb and comfortably integrate. The easiest way out of such extreme discomfort has been, for years, to make Bush and Cheney appear to be the cause of such distress. This is the “Control Factor” or that mental function that twists our perceptions in order to create the impression that control over the situation still exists within us. By blaming Bush/Cheney, it is subliminally implied that the threat can be controlled – by getting rid of Bush. The fact that we face threats from those we do not control and who simply want us and our way of life destroyed escapes consciousness. And that is exactly what happened and gave rise to the “Obaphenoma” or euphoric handing over of our nation to one who could make it all go away. As with The Matrix, the real world is easily traded in for the matrix which those who seek control manipulate.

The You Are Us Projection – Projection has been a powerful part of Obamolitics since his emergence upon the national scene. The most recent example of this AX-Rod is seen in Axelrod’s attack upon those who are making noises at Congressional town halls. Obama’s entire career was built on being a community agitator and Axelrod, himself, made his career (and is still as active as ever in his own business) as a community and media manipulator. He essentially created and mastered “Astroturfing,” yet sends out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to accuse Republicans of doing exactly that. Media government “tools” add to the charge that the town halls are filled not by authentic angered constituents, but instead, by fake constructs reminiscent of Islamic crowds assembled in Arab and Iranian lands to play to Western media. Yet Obama constantly had ACORN pad Republican public events during the election and, not unlike the acts that brought fame to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, utilized his community organizers to shakedown politicians throughout his years.

The true subtext that Axelrod is piercing (but carefully keeping distance) is that when the public dissenters are black or non-white, they have legitimate grievances. When, as with many of these town halls, most of those angered are white and elderly, they are to be dismissed. Sen. Barbara Boxer referenced the crowd’s “Brooks Brothers” attire, suggesting their bona fides are belied by their dress. Correction, as Alinsky counsels and Obama and Axelrod utilize, they are to be ridiculed and humiliated. In short, project onto the enemy that which you do and then freeze that in them and demean, embarrass and shame them.

One of the downsides of the use of projection is that it is telling in reverse. That is, observers can glean much about the projector from what is projected. Perhaps the Axelrod talking point (as executed by Pelosi) that those being vocal at town halls are swastika carriers tells us more about the essence of Obama and Axelrod’s fascist tendencies than it does about the participants.

The No-Plan No-Plan – A frequent AX-Rod these days is that the Republicans have no plans. An objection is made to Obama’s “cap and trade” or “healthcare” policies and the minions and our own “useful idiots” media respond that Republicans have failed to offer anything better. While simply not true (as many counter plans in every category of Obama policies have been and continue to be offered), this AX-Rod has the added benefit of fortifying Obama’s message that sweeping government action is necessary. The notion that what he proposes can truly be a great leap backwards and in the wrong direction never makes its way into consciousness. As Obama has quickly forced through drastically dangerous actions running spending to red alert levels, taking over industries, printing money faster than we can all breathe, the response is essentially “well at least he’s doing something.”

While one of Alinsky’s rules commanded that the pressure be kept on, Axelrod and chief enforcer Rahm Emanuel have adopted the “whack-a-mole” strategy of putting in front of the public a new major action almost each day. As the cap and trade bill started to get resistance, Sonia Sotomayor is thrust forward only to be upstaged at her critical time by healthcare and so forth. The public is simply “Axelwhacked” as Obama’s agenda is “Rahmed” through! This not only keeps the opposition unable to form any true resistance to any particular action (as the next day brings a completely new issue by which to be overwhelmed), it gives Obamaites another quarter to start a new video game. After all, the AX-Rod generation demands that its reality be action-filled. Little else sells these days. Consequently, with Obama’s target demographic, the appearance of doing something (the more extreme the better) trumps the reality that often doing less and allowing negative and difficult consequences to work their way through is more advantageous (and ultimately less difficult in total) to us all.

The Silent Conversation – Much of Obama’s campaign rhetoric was based on the power of “conversation,” and, particularly, Obama’s conversational powers. Much of Obama’s target demo was raised with “time-outs;” whenever things became tough, they were encouraged to rest, gather themselves, and talk out rather than act out their frustrations. Many also had their parents and teachers talk among themselves as to how best to resolve their own troubles. These instincts have a place within family and sometimes even school systems where it is presumed that violence is to be avoided at all costs.

Axelrod marshaled these instincts by having Obama deploy related words to other contexts, particularly foreign policy. Whereas the “virtual” foreign world may be one in which evil dictators can be read to sleep by the Messianic Obama, the real world does not engage in time-outs and so forth. Yet, as above, the mere reference to “engagement,” “dialogue,” and “bringing people together” gets the young listener comfortable that the faintest perception of conflict can ultimately be smoothed away and restore a sense of control. The target demo subliminally presumes that the rules of the virtual social networks must surely apply to the real world.

The AX-Rod, here, is that for all his talk, Obama talks successfully very little. His “bringing together” Congress has been a laughingstock as the major bills to date have not even been read by many legislators, much less discussed and openly compromised. And for all the grandeur in his promises of dialogue with friends and enemies, all are still waiting. He has had at least eight months since he knew he was to take office to “engage” Iran and has done very little. Putin looked into Obama’s soul and saw, at best, a novice of whom he can take great advantage. Even some of our allies, who Axelrod had cast as the anti-Bushies, now seem to wish W was back.

Instead, we constantly hear of “conversation” both from the Axel-ministration as well as throughout our media Obamites. It is difficult to watch a television news story or show (Fox excluded) which does not instruct that a “conversation” is needed or is entitled “A Conversation about…” and so forth. Just as with the ridiculous transformation of a routine burglary inquiry into a racial absurdity involving Obama and his “scholar”
friend Henry Gates, Axelrod resorts to a White House lawn “conversation” as the mechanism to not only quiet matters down but, most critically, to dispose of the issue. Gates and Obama were exposed in front of the world as anything but “post-racial” and “conversation” was the AX-Rod utilized to both recover and re-cover.

Unfortunately, while talk is cheap, the target demo needs only a little change to keep itself absorbed in the latest virtual game.

The No-Change Change– Embodying many elements of the other AX-Rods, this core campaign slogan carries with it the premise that change is good, that bigger change is even better, and that resistance to change by the opposition is to be expected. Accordingly, once this AX-Rod is accepted, Axelrod is given great assistance in pushing through almost anything. As long as it is described as “change,” massive spending all of a sudden becomes easily digestible even though it was essentially the critical charge in defeating Bush, McCain, and the Republican Congress throughout the past eight years. And when unheard of amounts of borrowing, spending, and currency creation do not achieve the presumed intended results, make them bigger. More change is better.

Axelrod carefully packs Obama’s teleprompters with warnings that change is tough and that there will always be those inclined to resist. How coincidental that often the more elderly find change difficult while the young target demo knows little other than change. And yet, real change seems elusive to Obama. Blaming deregulation and stepping up regulation while ignoring the real causes of problems is not new. Avoiding the use of force at all costs has been a liberal staple for decades. Trying to tax and spend our way out of poor economies and rewarding those who voted for you are as old as the nation itself.

In addition, using “change” as his banner ad, Axelrod was able to define Obama’s goals after the election and, as problems presented themselves, to avoid being trapped by his own record. Increased socialistic behaviors, extreme government control of businesses, and heading off dissent are just a few of the ways we are getting change but not necessarily the change we had in mind. This allows Axelrod to declare that the people voted for whatever he, after the fact, defines as change. To the contrary, if the people actually knew what programs Obama was to push through, the polls today suggest he never would have been elected.

These are just a taste of Axelrod’s masterful collection of AX-Rods. Before Obama’s presidency (whether it is four, eight, or, as some suggest he is already preparing for, more years) is over, treatises will be written on all of the powerful AX-Rods utilized. Creating ridiculous measuring standards such as “jobs saved,” deploying his own scare tactics to motivate quick legislation (“if we do not move immediately on this stimulus bill...”), absurd denials (such as of any intention to controlling the auto industry or of the fact that the “public option” in healthcare will put the private options out of business), will all become legendary markers of perhaps the most abusively manipulative presidency in our history. Reordering language priorities so that “Jihad” and “war on terror” are declared off limits and “healthcare reform” is focus-grouped into “health insurance reform” while inserting his own vague terms are the mainstay of master hypnotists. And, in fact, that is exactly what Axelrod has performed on a large segment of the community-organized public. Let’s hope enough people awaken out of the Matrix soon enough to be able to confront reality as it is, not as Axelrod and Obama would have us believe.

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Bill Siegel lives in New York.