New Republic Editor-In-Chief: 'President is a Narcissist'

by Roy C | October 6, 2009 at 11:14 am

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Narcissist. Other "unqualified" individuals besides myself have begun to mouth the word "narcissist" in a fateful coupling with another word: "Obama".

Yes, and who would the latest "unqualified" individual be?

Why none other than editor-in-chief Marty Peretz of the famously liberal/leftist magazine, The New Republic!

By way of evaluating the possible validity of such an accusation, there is an expression in the Muslim Sufi tradition that provides some guideline: "If one person calls you an ass, forget about it. But, if five people call you an ass, get yourself a saddle."

As far as the "ass count" goes, I know that Obama fans have yet to throw in the towel on Obamamania, but when you look at that SNL skit, and see the opinion of this editor of the New Republic, and go back and see what the independents and some of the libs I know have already said about Obama, it could be that we are nearing "saddle time".

The trend continues. Obama has just refused to meet with the Dalai Lama because of...??? Would this be an incremental step onward to "saddle time" ?

And the comparison with the would-have-been McCain administration? Yes, yes, I fully agree that Obamamania has saved us from another tragically flawed republican with no real sense of what a nation is and a sentimentalized view of our role in the world, with all the good and evil that that entails.

Better that Obama occupies the Oval Office so that this siphoning off and drawing up of the poisons of the left is intensified. This whole situation is the mirror image of what we got under the Bush administration in many ways.

The populist revolt grows and becomes better organized, conscious of itself, a real product of the Power Shift the Internet allows, and who but Obama would be qualified to do such a great job of representing the Boomer's leftist religiously-believed and -worshipped one-sided ideals and combination of incompetence with hypocrisy?

So, I smile. And, I laugh. I laugh a lot. I am even happy.

By the way, the New Republic cover that you see is not this month's edition. That came out when Obama was nominated. Funny how the illustrator grasped the psychodynamics of the process right away, though nothing critical was implied at the time.

The quotes are from the end of the article.

Rio, 1 -- Chicago, 0. The Politics of Narcissism and General McChrystal

The front-page lead headline in the weekend edition of the Financial Times said it much too clearly for Obama's vanity: "Rio in carnival mood after Brazil beats Obama to the 2016 Olympics." By contrast, it was a huge triumph for Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has long created his persona as an antagonist to the U.S. Not a Hugo Chavez, mind you, but an antagonist nonetheless. And not a danger to foreign investors. Lula actually held the line against the new Latin cult of socialism.

As the FT went on to say, the IOC "delivered an astonishing snub" to the president "by eliminating Chicago in the first round of voting." Chicago was dumped before Madrid was dumped and before Tokyo was dumped. Had the Obama folk not done any canvassing which would have alerted them to the fact that they were jet-setting to a humiliation? Maybe Michelle's presence added to the over-confident sense of invincibility. Moreover, how could they lose with Oprah Winfrey in tow?

So this question arises: If Obama could not get Chicago over the finish line in Copenhagen, which was a test only of his charms, how will he persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear weapons capacity or the Arabs, to whom he has tilted (we are told) only tactically, to sit down without their 60 year-old map as guide to what they demand from Israel.

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?

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AGK

at 11:52 on October 6th, 2009

Great story, and narcissists have their place. But go see my Big Brother photo, and see your Yahoo chat.........smkovalinsky

tikun

at 12:13 on October 6th, 2009

Wonderful report. Great picture of the man himself. and also your new one. I am shocked and awed of the charge. lol

Hugh Askew

at 13:54 on October 6th, 2009

Obama may be the last great gasp of the dying liberal/boomer culture. It has, in it's own narcissism, strayed a long way from love & peace, brother.

Rory Cripps

at 16:20 on October 6th, 2009

Roy: What a great country we live in! Every four years we elect a president and throughout those four years we're allowed to call him an ass! HA! If we lived in other parts of the world, we'd be dragged out in the dead of night and thrown in jail or shot on sight!

I have to agree that our current Prez has some self-perception issues in light of his recent global appearances and speeches. This doesn't make him a bad person . . . it just demonstrates that he's no different from some of his predecessors: Namely, a little nutty and way too self-absorbed for the American people to place their trust in him.

Roy C

at 18:31 on October 6th, 2009

Rory, you almost have me convinced.

Actually, about 20 years ago or so, I decided that the worst thing about a candidate was usually true.

They all are narcissists. But they all aren't incompetent. Domestically, Clinton was good, for example. Too bad about the vices, though.

QueensHart

at 10:01 on October 7th, 2009

It was bound to come along. As you know Roy and I both are what some "libs" here call unkindly "pop psychologists". Nothing could be further from the truth for we both have life experiences living close to some and we are both scholars on the subject..thos he can write about it I can paint and I try to write but as many know I am an undisciplined writer for I only write in a "feeling" state not the "mind" state .

I am going to tell you something different today about narcissists. I have know several but two that I tried to love, forgive, understand, educate,sacrificed most of my life to. In the end..the very end one can look and see how very brave, strong and courageous they were to continue living with such an empty place in their hearts.

Rory , you are right when you say they aren't all incompetent etc. Certain areas one cannot compete with them. However they still cannot and will not ever have empathy or much compassion unless it creates a "plug" for the holes in the image they want to project.

I suffered so much of my life trying to be what a narcissist thought I "should" be that they could not be and they thought would be their narcissistic supply.

It is not being GOOD. that makes for a GOOD LEADER. A leader needs to be multi faceted which Obama is not. He has so many agenda's going he may die of a heartattack. This comparison to him as being good reminds me of the Hollywood nuts who think the rapist Polanski should be freed for after all he is such a good film director and so very creative.!!

Wanting to be good and falsely appearing to be so when one inside is scared to death unless they please the other "psycho's" they owe allegiance to is unfortunately why our country is the way it is. False persona's run rampant. Because he was In some peoples opinion, dashing and black...a great speaker(actually a performing reader) and desperation for anyone and hoping a black one could help the wounds of slavery elected him. His policies stink and he had no experience to do much of anything and may not even be a scholar for he will not release his records. He has never really "worked". He cannot possibly identify with our middle class which he appears to be destroying. He won't even stay in his office long enough to study about War..so he can have a debate or discussion with some Real men.

tikun

at 13:15 on October 7th, 2009

Thank you QueensHart. You nailed him. The Prez is seen here as a man so out of his league and playing a very dangerous game of Russian Roulette with the stakes of total annihilation. His advisers have little or no experience and those that have some are so out in left field they are beyond the pale. There is even rumblings here about shifting our foreign policy away from the U.S. and giving more attention to the neglected parts of the world that show interest in our innovation, research and development skills. The creative gifts this country seems to bring to the world in spite of the craziness that shadows our every move.

No surprise that I write from my feelings. Sometimes it just doesn't read well. Sometimes it gets me into deep trouble. But I am that I am and who I am. I must have some value otherwise what a waste of a life if it was otherwise. Then again there really isn't much of a choice.

In these parts its like Texas-hold-Em. One mistake and we are history. The margin of error is almost nil. But knowing that truth makes one value life all the more. No sleepy hollow here.

QueensHart

at 18:38 on October 27th, 2009

Thank You Tikun. We do need more feelers than "thinkers' . When my children were in elementary they were trying to implement writing for the children by ignoring the grammar, punctuation etc. to encourage them to get their ideas and feelings on the paper. The other stuff can come later. It is the passion, the love and honesty that is more important than the proper scholastic requirements for them. It must not be squashed before it blooms: expression is more important with feeling and experience. amen