The portrayal of Dorothy’s friends in “The Wizard of Oz” is a fairly accurate picture of basic human nature. Most people with a normal dose of self-awareness recognize their strengths and weaknesses summed up in the needs of Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. Even though these characters represent only three general headings, each one is critical, with a breakdown representing many if not all personality traits covering our behavior including perhaps unconscious motivations as well. Not many people are lacking in every category.

All of the great people of history are remembered for having at least one of these characteristics in great abundance. Albert Einstein had a great mind. Winston Churchill not only had the mind, but possessed courage not shared by the average person. Abraham Lincoln arguably could have been the possessor of all three, mind, courage and heart. The evil, infamous people of history usually will not possess heart but can have mind and courage, while the worst may be lacking in all of them and are driven by those deficiencies. I believe we are witnessing a U.S. president who joins those lacking all three.

Mind: Many have touted the intelligence of Obama, being a Harvard lawyer and elected president of the U.S. However, intelligence alone without integrity can be a dangerous thing. Having a “sound mind” is key to using it effectively, and we are fortunate indeed that most criminal minds are not intelligent. In his book, “The Liberal Mind,” psychiatrist Lyle H. Rossiter Jr., M.D. states, “Modern liberalism’s irrationality can only be understood as the product of psychopathology.”

How else can we understand Obama’s continual lying without a twinge of embarrassment? What sort of mind intentionally incites race warfare, intentionally works to destroy the family, and, contrary to all of history, believes he can sweet talk similar pathological and other world leaders to join hands and sing Kumbaya? It can only reflect delusional and diabolical thinking and not what a normal person considers a sound mind.

Courage: By now it’s clear that Obama has worked to take America down a few notches especially on the world stage. He has felt compelled to take a stand now and then with a bravado of red lines and warnings that when challenged prove hollow. With the world watching, he backs away from confrontation even when the chip is knocked off his shoulder several times. It’s like the schoolyard bully who when challenged says, “I was just kidding,” or runs to the teacher for protection.

Heart: And while Obama pretends to care for people and their struggles, that “heart” issue is a pretense of his mental pathology. What but a darkened heart would allow a living, botched abortion baby to lie there and die, intentionally? Or, support the depraved bartering of baby organs, and ignore the deaths of some Americans while falling all over himself to politicize deaths of the useful dead?

The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion were seeking the Wizard in order to fix their lack. In reality they did have a mind, heart and courage, the only need was to believe in them. Underneath, in their inner most beings they were good characters of moral integrity. Their huge deficits did not cause them to become like the Wicked Witch of the West, rather it moved them to find the cure.

The question then becomes what has happened to these qualities in the being of Obama? According to Dr. Rossiter, Jr., “Radical liberalism … assaults the foundations of civilized freedom and for that reason it is a genuine evil… [R]adical liberalism is in fact a form of madness.” A journey to the Wizard for Obama is in order, but then again, two con men working behind a curtain is not a fix. The only hope for madness is to receive a new heart and a renewal of the mind, with which will come the courage to do the right thing. And that will require not a journey to see the Wizard, but a trip to the cross of Jesus.

Alan Dodd ([email protected]) blogs at plantandwater.org.