"Stockholm Syndrome"? Or Something Worse?

You can add me to the list of frustrated progressives who wonder what will it take for President Obama and Congressional Democrats to grow a little spine, and stop negotiating with themselves when they should be fighting for the goals of the people who voted for them--and gave money to them (myself included).  Obama, in particular, is a total mystery at this point.  Whether it's extending the Bush tax cuts or anything else, it seems that the President seems determined to simply say "How high?" every time John Boehner and Mitch McConnell say "Jump!"

It's been suggested by some commentators that Obama may have been effectively "taken hostage" by the Capitol Hill GOP, that he has been so personally intimidated by the way it does business that he is a victim of "Stockholm Syndrome," identifying with his "captors" to the point at which he effectively regards them as his "friends."  Frank Rich has said as much in today's New York Times; here is another sample of this line of thinking.  But if this is in fact happening--and I'm not saying it isn't--I suspect that more is involved besides intransigency on the Republicans' part, and fecklessness on the part of the White House.

To me, the 800-pound-gorilla in the room of the Obama Presidency can be summed up in one word, one that I'm almost afraid to type even as I write this:  assassination.  (I pause here to knock on wood and say "pu-pu-pu!" under my breath, to avoid tempting fate.)  I think it's fair to say that not since the last President from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, has a President's life been in such constant danger--and, sadly, for the same basic reason.  (The Civil War years were probably also the last time the nation has been as divided as it is now, but that's a subject for another post.)  It's not a state secret that the security surrounding Obama is higher and more constant than the security provided for any other American President.  And there should be.  Sadly, in spite of reaching the point at which we can elect an African-American to the White House, we do not live in a "post-racial" society.  We are every bit as racist as we've always been.  As a law school friend of mine (himself an African-American) once told me, we just do a better job of hiding it.

All of this can't help but influence the overall political atmosphere in D.C., and the Obama-GOP dynamic in particular.  To what extent is the GOP aware of this?  What do they know about any actual or potential threats to the President's life?  To what extent--if any--are they involved, perhaps in a material way, with these threats?

These are, and should be, disturbing questions.  I do not ask them easily.  But, if we're going to openly talk about "Stockholm Syndrome," we might as well take the discussion to the next level.  It may be necessary to prevent the hostage, and the rest of us, from becoming the victims of a far greater tragedy than losing an election.