"The worst thing that can happen in a democracy, as well as in an individual's life, is to become cynical about the future and lose hope." Hillary Clinton
December 21, 2016
By: Linda Case Gibbons
Just because it happens, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
Every year, Miss America has to turn her crown over to the new Miss America. That can't be easy.
CEO's of corporations retire, and have to hand over the company books to the new guy.
Heck, Bill Kristol, after his year campaigning against Trump, had to step down from his post as editor-in-chief of The Weekly Standard.
Most unfortunate.
Yet, they leave with a smile, because that's the way it's done. And it does have to be done.
But I don't think Obama got the memo. Not only is he holding onto the keys to the Oval Office with both hands, he's doing his best to make a mess of everything he can get his hands on during his final days in the sun.
In fact, this guy is working harder in these last 20 days than he ever did during his eight years in office.
I know. He's insulted he has to leave. In fact, he told David Axelrod, he would have beaten Donald Trump if he could have run.
I bet that made Hillary feel good.
Nonetheless, these are not the words of a man who's going away any time soon. So talk of a "Shadow Government?" That does sound like Obama.
But maybe it's just the holidays. The hustle, the bustle. It makes everybody crazy.
Or maybe it's because Christmas brought back memories of the moniker Obama's staffers gave him way back then, affectionately calling him "The Black Jesus."
That could turn a guy's head.
Whatever it is, Obama's flailing around in his final moments, in a, "If I Can't Have It, Neither Can You," move, desperately trying to save his Legacy.
The one that was rejected roundly in the election.
Why, just in the past few weeks, this Lame Duck has colluded with the United Nations Security Council to stab Israel in the back, instructing Ambassador Samantha Power to abstain from a vote which would impact Israel adversely. (Judging by this, I don't think Obama just sat in Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years. I think he listened to what the reverend said.)
Obama, invoking an obscure 1953 law this week, permanently banned offshore drilling in large areas of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans;
He released terrorists from Gitmo, and criminals from jails, by the pound, helter skelter;
He's furiously working on imposing economic sanctions and diplomatic censure to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election, without establishing whether Russia really did interfere.
No one takes rejection like Obama.
If you're finding it hard to figure out what Obama is doing, he's providing for a smooth transition of power.
You might think poking his finger in the eyes of allies and enemies alike, isn't the way to do that, that he's setting Trump up for a fall.
That he's setting the United States up for a fall. That he's narcissistic to the extreme. That has been said before.
But you'd be wrong. A coterie of lovely lady psychiatrists can attest to that.
They recently wrote a letter to Obama, the man who promised to still the rising of the oceans, demanding he command Trump to submit to a neuropsychiatric workup, in order to determine Trump's mental stability. Sounds reasonable. Except the ladies probably didn't realize they lived in America, a democracy. Not Russia.
The authors of the letter, two of whom are married to each other, bring their vast expertise in women's studies to their medical request.
Nanette Gartrell, previously on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, is a researcher for the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Studies program;
Dee Mosbacher is a women's and lesbian rights activist, a practicing psychiatrist, and is married to Gartrell;
And Judith Herman is a professor of clinical psychiatry at Harvard, with a focus on understanding traumatic stress and incest.
This whole thing could strike you as odd, or even repugnant, but Obama is an ardent advocate of the LGBT community, and does have strong ties to Harvard, so why not send Trump to a shrink?
Communists in Russia used to deal with political dissidents this way all the time.
As I said, no one takes losing like Obama. Except maybe Hillary. Or the Democrats. And the liberals. And the three ladies who delve into the minds of men who win as part of their women's studies.
Hold the line, America.