Posts
"1. Establish honesty in admitting failure – this is very difficult thing for a liberal. Ones that invested so much time, effort and money in the Obama campaign will find it difficult to admit that their dedication was misguided. Conservatives must allow the recovering Obamaniac to vent about why they felt their original love for Him didn’t turn out to be the flowering garden of love and fairness they envisioned. Like all jilted former admirers, recovering supporters will feel foolish, so it is important to not bring further embarrassment upon them. Just admitting the failure is progress enough for step one.
"2. Show faith in a higher power – Recovering Obama supporters have an aversion to discussing faith issues, so this is another difficult step. Avoid telling the former Obama worshiper the importance of believing in God, but focus instead on the fact that Obama turned out not to be God. Recovering from liberalism frequently requires admission that there might actually be a kind and loving God and this by itself is a huge leap. Once again “baby steps” are the objective. Just getting the recovering Obama supporter to admit that Obama is not God might be all the progress one can make.
"3. Assist in surrender of control – Obama supporters at one time believed that government control of industry and finance would create a more fair and just society. Instead, it created unemployment and soon-to-come inflation. Still, a recovering Obamniac does not at his core, believe in freedom. Freedom of action, speech and especially of others to own firearms is terrifying to a liberal. Take the recovering Obama supporter to coffee and explain that freedom is the right to choose between a non-fat vanilla latte and a mocha cappuccino. The choice is not threatening. It also isn’t threatening that the guy in front of you ordered a drink he despises. The assisting conservative can then carry the conversation on to the issue of free markets. Without surrendering to a free market, there can be no prosperity – or at least the ability to choose what one orders at Starbucks.
"4. Help in taking a personal moral inventory – Liberals absolutely hate this. They would much rather take someone else’s moral inventory and point out the errors of someone else’s ways. Pointing out others’ faults is a trait Democrats cultivate in their followers. Looking for failures within themselves is foreign and threatening. The conservative must be patient and stick to the evidence in discussing topics. A good start is to initiate a conversation regarding why the inevitable inflation next year will be Obama’s cruel tax on the middle class. Obama supporters will connect with the word ‘cruel’ as they are concerned about the future of America’s middle class. When evidence mounts that the conservative position has proven correct, the Obama-type may become frustrated and emotional. Conservatives must continue to bring up factual evidence. Unless the Obamican is brain-dead, this tactic will eventually pay off.
"5. Encourage admission that the previously held belief was incorrect – Recovering Obama supporters wrestle mightily with this step. Admission that any previously held belief was incorrect is taken in most liberal minds as a personal defeat. Politics with Democrats is personal. Admission of poor judgment is not something they would choose to make public. Completion of this step might involve admitting to the conservative that he/she ‘may’ have been wrong. A liberal using the word ‘may’ in this context must be read as a definite admission of the wrong. Democrats never admit an error.
"6. Help recovering Obama supporter accept defects in judgment – This is where it really gets difficult. Admitting a single error is difficult enough. Admission to a defective judgmental process is entirely different. Field evidence must be used as it was in Step 3, only this time; it is a much more lengthy discussion. A recommended scheme is to discuss the Carter years and why they led to double digit unemployment, interest rates and inflation. Follow this with a discussion on how Reagan was the President to defeat LBJ’s inflationary cycle and restore economic growth, as well as laying the groundwork for defeating the Soviet Union. This is a detailed discussion, so it will be difficult to hold the liberal’s attention for that long.
"7. Help restore humility – During the campaign, Obama supporters were anything but humble in their wild support for a community organizer. Looking back, they completely embarrassed themselves. The assisting conservative should point out that it was easy to follow along with such a dynamic speaker and campaigner, but the real measure of maturity is to learn from the experience. Liberals refer to every mistake as a ‘learning experience.’
"8. Establish a willingness to make amends – Gaining an Obama supporter’s willingness to vote for someone other than a Democrat is challenging. Simply point out that since Obama is in office damaging the country for perhaps an entire generation, swift and significant counteraction will be necessary to prevent prolonged economic disaster. After all, a liberal doesn’t want to be blamed for anything, especially while waiting to cash the unemployment check.
"9. Assist the Obamican in giving and finding forgiveness – Liberals actually like forgiving others. They aren’t quite so fond of asking forgiveness for themselves. Conservatives must coax this out into the open by making the sting of Obamanomics personal. If the Obama supporter is currently unemployed, this should be easy.
"10. Help recovering supporter maintain his progress – Recovering Obama supporters will burn up an incredible amount of personal energy trying to understand why His policies failed. Usually, Democrats fall back on the tried and true method of blaming others. However, with no Republican presence in Congress, Democrats have full responsibility for the condition of the country and won’t be able to logically blame someone else. Encouraging the former Obama worshiper to continue exploring free markets and conservative thought is a continuous effort.
"11. Help develop an action plan – Democrats love action plans. They love to make them and assign the difficult actions (like paying taxes) to others. That way they can blame others when the effort produces unintended consequences. Conservatives can get past this by involving the former Obamaniac in regular discussions of inflation, money supply theory and other detailed conservative principles. Recovering Obama supporters will need this level of detail to defend themselves when they go to their weekly book club meeting.
"12. Encourage recovering lefty to follow through on action plan – The Obama supporter that realizes he has been hoodwinked into voting for a snake oil salesman will still have to confront those that still consume the Obama Kool-Aid. Making her/his newfound understanding of conservative principles public will be terrifying at first. Conservatives can help by asking probing questions in public. Questions such as: ‘why will there be rapid inflation in 2010?’ will allow the recovering Obamniac to look knowledgeable among his peers. It may also generate an entirely new crop of liberals who wish to throw off the bounds of Obama worship. The conservative assistant may quickly find many in need of his services."
