Kudos to Joe Klein at Time's Swampland blog for calling out the editor of The New Republic for pegging the president as a "clinical narcissist."He hits back hard, as well he should. Says Klein:
There are solid philosophical arguments that can be made against what
Obama is doing. There are strong arguments that can be made either way
on Afghanistan. I still think the various health care proposals place
too much of a burden on an already strapped private sector. But
Peretz--allegedly the impresario of one of our most distinguished
journals of liberal thought--is making none of those. He is indulging
in standard Likudnik name calling--Israel good, Iran eeeee-vil--and
indulging in the neoconservative efforts to create a Straw Messiah.
This may sound like a strong rebuke, but keep in mind what TNR editor Marty Peretz had to say about the failed Chicago bid to host the 2016 Olympics:
What I suspect is that the president is probably a clinical narcissist.
This is not necessarily a bad condition if one maintains for oneself
what the psychiatrists call an "optimal margin of illusion," that is,
the margin of hope that allows you to work. But what if his narcissism
blinds him to the issues and problems in the world and the inveterate
foes of the nation that are not susceptible to his charms?
Chicago will survive its disappointments and Obama will, as well. It is
the other stage sets on which the president struts--like he strutted in
Cairo and at the United Nations--that concern me.
I know that the president believes himself a good man. My nervy query to him is: "Does he believe America to be a good country?"
I'm going to piggy-back on Klein now with a piece of evidence from my inbox.
A famously hawkish supporter of Israel, Peretz's accusations about the president mimic the message of a fringe ring-wing email that I got my hands on. You know the kind of email I'm talking about, one of those "Obama is a Muslim" emails. So I don't know for sure if Klein put his finger on the real reason for Peretz's anxiety when he claims "the bitterness tracks perfectly with the President's insistence that Israel freeze its settlements" (he might have, read on). But I do know that Peretz's claim evokes a fringe email smear circulating about the president, a link he appears to be less than self-conscious about.
He's not just mimicking the relatively mainstream critique of Obama's celebrity, but going further, putting himself (unwittingly?) in the same realm as a slanderous and incendiary email chain letter of obviously dubious credibility, the birthers, the camp that believes Obama to be a socialist/Nazi, all of which, you guessed it, is portrayed as having some amorphous connection to Israel.
In its main narcissism thrust the email purports to be based on analysis by an "Israeli psychologist," one Sam Vaknin, PhD, who diagnoses Obama with exactly the same thing as Peretz, clinical narcissism, and whose website constitutes a shrine to his own expertise on narcissim (read: his own narcissism) and yet proclaims "I am NOT a mental health professional - read the DISCLAIMER - click
HERE!!!"
The other messages conveyed by the email? The now well-worn "Obama is a racist" and "Obama is Hitler" smears. Visit Vaknin's site to see his "work" for yourself. The email was circulating as early as July 1 of this year, when I received it, and was based on the work of, but evidently not written by, "Dr." Vaknin.
I want to offer up the full text of the email just to shed light on the whole narcissism smear, to show what kind of schlock underpins it. Samples from the email below, followed by its full text:
Vaknin says that Obama's language, posture
and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest and nearest
suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may
have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Narcissists
project a grandiose but false image of themselves. Jim Jones,
the charismatic leader of People's Temple, the man who led over 900
of his followers to cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder
their own children was also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles
Manson, Joseph Koni, Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao, Kim Jong Ill
and Adolph Hitler are a few examples of narcissists of our
time. All these men had a tremendous influence over their
fanciers. They created a personality cult around themselves and
with their blazing speeches elevated their admirers, filled their
hearts with enthusiasm and instilled in their minds a new zest for
life. They gave them hope!
It
is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists,
theHezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamo terrorists
andvirtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the
prospectof their man in the White House. America is on the verge
ofdestruction. There is no insanity greater than electing
pathological narcissist as
president.
Full text, omitting only what might reveal the sender, is below:
I
received this and found this was what I had been thinking also.
Thisis so true!! [name witheld]
Dr. Vaknin sums up the situation
really well. He also explains whyObama’s followers will never
believe that their idol is leading themdown the path to
ruin.Some of you will understand it and some of you will be upset
with mefor sending this politically charged message. If you
disagree withthe message for any reason, fine. Stop
reading. If you read it andunderstand Dr. Vaknin’s point,
maybe we can limit Obama’s tenure to 4years.
Dr. Sam Vaknin
is an Israeli psychologist. Interesting view on ournew
president.Dr.. Vaknin has written extensively about
narcissism.Dr. Vaknin States "I must confess I was impressed
by Sen. Barack Obamafrom the first time I saw him. At first I
was excited to see a blackcandidate. He looked youthful, spoke
well, appeared to be confident -a wholesome presidential
package. I was put off soon, not justbecause of his
shallowness but also because there was an air ofhaughtiness in his
demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and hisbody language
were louder than his empty words. Obama's speeches areunlike any
political speech we have heard in American history. Nevera
politician in this land had such quasi "religious" impact on so
manypeople. The fact that Obama is a total incognito with
zeroaccomplishment, makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming.
Obama isnot an ordinary man. He is not a genius. In fact
he is quiteignorant on most important subjects."
Barack
Obama is a narcissist.Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of the
Malignant Self Love believes"Barack Obama appears to be a
narcissist." Vaknin is a worldauthority on narcissism.
He understands narcissism and describes theinner mind of a
narcissist like no other person. When he talks aboutnarcissism
everyone listens. Vaknin says that Obama's language,posture
and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest andnearest
suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may
havenarcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Narcissists
project agrandiose but false image of themselves. Jim Jones,
the charismaticleader of People's Temple, the man who led over 900
of his followersto cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder
their own childrenwas also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles
Manson, Joseph Koni,Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao, Kim Jong Ill
and Adolph Hitler area few examples of narcissists of our
time. All these men had atremendous influence over their
fanciers. They created a personalitycult around themselves and
with their blazing speeches elevated theiradmirers, filled their
hearts with enthusiasm and instilled in theirminds a new zest for
life. They gave them hope! They promised themthe moon,
but alas, invariably they brought them to their doom. Whenyou
are a victim of a cult of personality, you don't know it until itis
too late. One determining factor in the development of NPD
ischildhood abuse.
"Obama's early life was decidedly chaotic
and replete with traumaticand mentally bruising dislocations," says
Vaknin. "Mixed-racemarriages were even less common then.
His parents went through adivorce when he was an infant (two years
old). Obama saw his fatheronly once again, before he died in a
car accident. Then his motherre-married and Obama had to
relocate to Indonesia, a foreign land witha radically foreign
culture, to be raised by a step-father. At theage of ten, he
was whisked off to live with his maternal(white)grandparents.
He saw his mother only intermittently in thefollowing few years and
then she vanished from his life in 1979. Shedied of cancer in
1995".One must never underestimate the manipulative genius of
pathologicalnarcissists. They project such an imposing
personality that itoverwhelms those around them. Charmed by
the charisma of thenarcissist, people become like clay in his
hands. They cheerfully dohis bidding and delight to be at his
service. The narcissist shapesthe world around himself and
reduces others in his own inverted image.He creates a cult of
personality. His admirers become hisco-dependents
Narcissists have no interest in things that do not helpthem to reach
their personal objective. They are focused on onething alone
and that is power. All other issues are meaningless tothem and
they do not want to waste their precious time ontrivialities.
Anything that does not help them is beneath them and donot deserve
their attention.If an issue raised in the Senate does not help
Obama in one way oranother, he has no interest in it. The
"present" vote is a safevote.. No one can criticize him if
things go wrong. Those issues areunworthy by their very nature
because they are not about him. Obama'selection as the first
black president of the Harvard Law Review led toa contract and
advance to write a book about race relations.The University of
Chicago Law School provided him a lot longer thanexpected and at the
end it evolved into, guess what? His ownautobiography!
Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing on racerelations, for
which he had been paid, Obama could not resist writingabout his most
sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams from
MyFather.
Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote his own
autobiography whenhe was still nobody. So did Stalin.
For a narcissist no subject isas important as his own self.
Why would he waste his precious timeand genius writing about
insignificant things when he can write aboutsuch an august being as
himself? Narcissists are often callous andeven ruthless.
As the norm, they lack conscience. This is evidentfrom Obama's
lack of interest in his own brother who lives on only onedollar per
month.A man who lives in luxury, who takes a private jet to
vacation inHawaii, and who has raised nearly half a billion dollars
for hiscampaign (something unprecedented in history) has no interest
in theplight of his own brother. Why? Because, his
brother cannot be usedfor his ascent to power.
A narcissist
cares for no one but himself. This election is like noother in
the history of America. The issues are insignificant comparedto what
is at stake. What can be more dangerous than having a
manbereft of conscience, a serial liar, and one who cannot
distinguishhis fantasies from reality as the leader of the free
world? I hate tosound alarmist, but one is a fool if one is
not alarmed. Manypoliticians are narcissists. They pose no
threat to others...They aresimply self serving and
selfish.Obama evidences symptoms of pathological narcissism,
which isdifferent from the run-of-the-mill narcissism of a Richard
Nixon or aBill Clinton for example. To him reality and fantasy
are intertwined.This is a mental health issue, not just a character
flaw.Pathological narcissists are dangerous because they look normal
andeven intelligent. It is this disguise that makes them
treacherous.Today the Democrats have placed all their hopes in
Obama. But thisman could put an end to their party. The
great majority of blackshave also decided to vote for Obama.
Only a fool does not know thattheir support for him is racially
driven. This is racism, pure andsimple. The downside of
this is that if Obama turns out to be thedisaster I predict, he will
cause widespread resentment among thewhites.
The blacks are
unlikely to give up their support of their man.Cultic
mentality is pernicious and unrelenting. They will dig
theirheads deeper in the sand and blame Obama's detractors of
racism. Thiswill cause a backlash among the whites.
The white
supremacists will take advantage of the discontent andthey
will receive widespread support. I predict that in less
thanfour years, racial tensions will increase to levels never seen
sincethe turbulent 1960's.
Obama will set the clock back
decades... America is the bastion offreedom. The peace of the
world depends on the strength of America,and its weakness translates
into the triumph of terrorism and victoryof rogue nations.
It
is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists,
theHezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamo terrorists
andvirtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the
prospectof their man in the White House. America is on the verge
ofdestruction. There is no insanity greater than electing
pathological narcissist as
president.*END*