Obama Derangement Syndrome

Familiar with the phrase "Bush Derangement Syndrome" as coined by Charles Krauthammer?

the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush

Well, in case you haven't noticed, the virus has mutated.  The new version is very similar, except now it's associated with Obama.

I've seen the symptoms cropping up everywhere lately.  Here are a few examples:

Freaking out because Notre Dame invited the POTUS to speak at commencement (because his views on abortion conflict with the teachings of the Catholic church), but a Catholic university awarding an honorary degree to a pro-choice, pro-death penalty, pro-Iraq-war (all of which are in conflict with the Catholic church) secretary of state is perfectly fine.

Delighting in the thought that Obama's extensive teleprompter use is a sign of some critical character flaw...despite the fact the previous POTUS was famous for inserting his foot in his mouth...thinking that Obama is an idiot despite being able to talk intelligently and extensively about policy with or without a teleprompter...despite the fact that he has a BA from Columbia and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law.

Believing that the stock market tanks every time Obama speaks, taking day to day stock market declines as a sign of his failure, yet being strangely silent as the stock market goes on an extended multi-week surge...even though it's now up since Obama took office.

Freaking out about a bill with bipartisan support that significantly expands the AmeriCorps program for national service...claiming he's planning to take away your kids for some sort of Hitler-esque youth squad.

Claiming that Obama's gallows-humor chuckles during a 60 Minutes interview are signs that he doesn't take the economic crisis and the suffering of the little guy seriously...that an unfortunate but self-deprecating reference to Special Olympics on Leno shows what a horrible guy he really is.

Obama proposes reducing taxes for 95 % of us and increasing the tax rate on the rest by a few percentage points, returning it to where it was under Clinton (a level that is low compared to some historical levels)...and it's proof-positive that he is a Marxist, a Socialist, a Communist, and this is clearly no longer the country we knew.

Ridiculing Earth Hour (in which people around the world are encouraged to take the symbolic act of turning off the lights for an hour) as childish and silly, while completely missing the childishness of encouraging folks to do the opposite (turn on every light in your house)...and calling Obama an "extremist tyrannical president."

Don't get me wrong.  I don't deny that there are plenty of philosophical and policy issues where many folks will have profound differences with Obama.  Even a guy like me (who is generally in agreement with Obama on many issues) can see plenty of mis-steps and imperfections in his brief presidency thus far (I'll write about those sometime soon)...but folks, remember how silly Bush Derangement Syndrome looked (looks; it's still out there)?  That's how you look now.  Derangement syndromes aren't admirable no matter who the target is.