Our Narcissistic President

Robert L. Wichterman

Robert L. Wichterman writes from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

"Narcissist" is a word not widely used. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary writes of the narcissist: "A beautiful youth in Greek mythology who pines away for love of his own reflection."

One of Obama's classmates from the Harvard Law School wrote that "Obama didn't just 'share' in class - he pontificated. He knew better than everyone else in the room, including the teacher."

During the 2008 campaign for the presidency, he spoke from a podium with an imitation of the Great Seal of the United States presenting his campaign slogan: vero possumus, Latin for "Yes,we can." Several months ago he was delivering a speech and the authentic seal fell to the floor. He said, "That's alright, all of you know who I am."

In 2010 many Democratic Members of Congress were worried that President Obama's agenda, from Obamacare to Cap and Trade, would hurt their chances in the fall elections. To encourage them the President said, "Well, the big difference between here and 1994 is, now you've got me."

In law school, he edited the Harvard Law Review, and wrote some articles in which he compared himself to our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. He later continued by announcing his candidacy for the presidency in Springfield, Illinois, at the same location where Mr. Lincoln delivered his "House divided" speech. The Lincoln motif lasted through his January 20, 2009, inauguration. He took the oath of office using Mr. Lincoln's Bible, and at the luncheon, the meal was served on replicas of President Lincoln's china.

Dr. Sam Vaknin's has studied and published on narcissism. He has written about Barack Obama, and the manner in which he organizes his public appearances in order to elevate and enhance himself. Dr. Vaknin observes that "Narcissists have no interest in things that do not help them to reach their personal objectives." Then Senator Obama didn't become involved with trivial or controversial issues. He took the safe route, and if he had to vote, it was "present." He could not be blamed if things went wrong.

As President nothing has changed. He asked Congress to create the new healthcare system. Several commentators noted that, usually, the President gave the basic outline of what he wanted, but he wanted Congress to write it, and the onus would be on them. He knew that there was no national support for the new healthcare law, and he felt that Congress should take the heat from the public and the Republicans.

The President is an accomplished and gifted public speaker. Humility however, is not one of his attributes. After the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid complimented him on a "fine speech," he replied, "I have a gift, Harry."

In a 2008 New Yorker article by Ryan Lizza. Mr. Obama said:

I think I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriter. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy director. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director.

Earlier he had compared himself to the professional basketball player James LeBron. He bragged, "I'm LeBron baby. I can play on this level. I've got some game."

When Barack Obama was elected, he told the media how transparent his administration would be. It would be non-partisan and would work with everyone. At a meeting with Congressional leaders in January 2009, Sen. Jon Kyl (R. AZ) questioned the rationale for the manner of spending the stimulus money. The President replied: "Because I won,"

About a year later at a meeting to promote cooperation between the two parties, the Republicans pointed out that they were not being given an equal amount of time to discuss the agenda, he answered:

There may have been an imbalance on the opening statements because I'm the President. And so I made, uh, I don't count my time in terms of dividing it equally.

When the Olympic Committee did not award the Summer Games to Chicago, even though he had traveled to Copenhagen to present the request, he could not fathom how he had not won the prize. Coming home he downplayed the loss but could not hide his incredulity.

During Barack Obama's primary election campaign to become the Democratic candidate, he mentioned that he was "preferable" to Hillary Clinton as regards foreign policy as he "possesses intuitively superior judgment."

According to his advisors Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, he ran for President because he was "bored" in both the Illinois and U.S. Senates. Ms. Jarrett told writer David Remnick that, "He has been bored to death his whole life." She continued, "I think he has never really been challenged intellectually." She said, "One of the few things that truly engaged him fully before going to the White House was writing Dreams from My Father. Barack Obama was stimulated by writing about Barack Obama.

Mr. Axelrod commented:

Barack hated being a Senator. Washington was a grander stage than Springfield, but the frustrations of being a rookie in a minority party were familiar. Obama could barely conceal his frustration with the torpid pace of the Senate.

The day-to-day routine of being President must be dreary too. Last April Poland lost their President, First Lady, and many other members of the government in an airplane accident. Rather than attend their funeral to represent the United States, President Obama played golf.

On his visit to Great Britain to meet the Queen, he presented Her Majesty with an iPod containing recordings of his speeches and photographs of his inauguration. The British and American press loved it. It gave them an international faux pas to cover.

Reporting on narcissism and Barack Obama, Ali Sina wrote:

Never [has] a politician in this land had such a quasi- "religious" impact on so many people. The fact that Obama is a total incognito with zero accomplishments makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming.

Barack Obama charmed the electorate in 2008. We must awaken and educate the country to the dangers of his re-election. *