As a student of Psychology and Sociology over the years I found this perspective presented by a practicing psychologist quite informative. Regardless of ideology or party affiliation, this is food for thought. This was written prior to Mr. Obamas election to the highest office in the free world, and I see no improvement in the situation since that time.
The author of this was Dr. Sam Vaknin.
Dr. Sam Vaknin is an Israeli psychologist. Interesting view
on our
president. Dr. Vaknin has written extensively about narcissism.
Dr. Vaknin States "I must confess I was impressed by Obama
from the first
time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black
candidate. He looked
youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident --
a wholesome presidential
package. I was put off soon, not just because
of his shallowness but also
because there was an air of haughtiness in
his demeanor that was unsettling.
His posture and his body language
were louder than his empty words. Obama's
speeches are unlike any
political speech we have heard in American history.
Never has a
politician in this land had such quasi "religious" impact on so
many
people.
The fact that Obama is a total incognito with
zero
accomplishment, makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming. Obama
is
not an ordinary man. He is not a genius. In fact he is quite
ignorant
on most important subjects."
Dr. Sam Vaknin, the
author of the Malignant Self Love
believes "Barack Obama appears to be a
narcissist." Vaknin is a world
authority on narcissism. He understands
narcissism and describes the
inner mind of a narcissist like no other person.
When he talks about
narcissism everyone listens. Vaknin says that Obama's
language,
posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest,
dearest
friends suggest that the man 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! They promised them the moon, but
alas,
invariably they brought them to their doom.
When you
are a victim of a cult of personality, you don't
know it until it is too
late. One determining factor in the
development of NPD is childhood abuse
"Obama's early life was
decidedly chaotic and replete with traumatic and
mentally bruising
dislocations" says Vaknin. "Mixed-race marriages were even
less common
then. His parents went through a divorce when he was an infant
two
years old. Obama saw his father only once again, before he died in
a
car accident. Then his mother re-married and Obama had to relocate
to
Indonesia , a foreign land with a radically foreign culture, to
be
raised by a step-father. At the age of ten, he was whisked off to
live
with his maternal (white) grandparents. He saw his mother
only
intermittently in the following few years and then she vanished
from
his life in 1979. "She died of cancer in 1995."
One
must never underestimate the manipulative genius of
pathological narcissists.
They project such an imposing personality
that it overwhelms those around
them. Charmed by the charisma of the
narcissist, people become like clay in
his hands. They cheerfully do
his bidding and delight to be at his service.
The narcissist shapes
the world around himself and reduces others in his own
inverted image.
He creates a cult of personality. His admirers become
his
co-dependents. Narcissists have no interest in things that do not
help
them to reach their personal objective. They are focused on one
thing
alone and that is power. All other issues are meaningless to them
and
they do not want to waste their precious time on
trivialities.
Anything that does not help them is beneath them and does not
deserve
their attention.
If an issue raised in the Senate
does not help Obama in one
way or another, he has no interest in it. The
"present" vote is a safe
vote. No one can criticize him if things go wrong.
Those issues are
unworthy by their very nature because they are not about
him.
Obama's election as the first black president of the
Harvard
Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about
race
relations. The University of Chicago Law School provided him a
lot
longer than expected, and at the end it evolved into, guess what?
His
own autobiography! Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing
on
race relations, for which he had been paid, Obama could not
resist
writing about his most sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams
from
My Father.
Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote
his own
autobiography when he was still a nobody. So did Stalin. For
a
narcissist no subject is as important as his own self. Why would
he
waste his precious time� writing about insignificant things when
he
can write about such an august being as himself?
Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless. As the
norm, they lack
conscience. This is evident from Obama's lack of
interest in his own brother
who lives on only one dollar per month. A
man who lives in luxury, who takes
a private jet to vacation in
Hawaii, and who raised nearly half a billion
dollars for his campaign
(something unprecedented in history) has no interest
in the plight of
his own brother. Why? Because, his brother cannot be used
for his
ascent to power. A narcissist cares for no one but
himself.
This election was like no other in the history of
America .
The issues were insignificant compared to what is at stake. What
can
be more dangerous than having a man bereft of conscience, a
serial
liar, and one who cannot distinguish his fantasies from reality as
the
leader of the free world?
I hate to sound alarmist, but
one is a fool if one is not
alarmed. Many politicians are narcissists. They
pose no threat to
others. They are simply self-serving and selfish. Obama
evidences
symptoms of pathological narcissism, which is different from
the
run-of-the-mill narcissism of a Richard Nixon or a Bill 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 and even
intelligent. It is this disguise that makes them
treacherous. Today the
Democrats have placed all their hopes in Obama.
But this man could put an end
to their party. The great majority of
blacks voted for Obama. Only a fool
does not know that their support
for him is racially driven. This is racism,
pure and simple.
The downside of this is that if Obama turns
out to be the
disaster I predict, he will cause widespread resentment among
the
whites. The blacks are unlikely to give up their support of their
man.
Cultic mentality is pernicious and unrelenting. They will dig
their
heads deeper in the sand and accuse Obama's detractors of racism.
This
will cause a backlash among the whites. The white supremacists
will
take advantage of the discontent and they will receive
widespread
support. I predict that in less than four years, racial tensions
will
increase to levels never seen since the turbulent
1960's.
Obama will set the clock back decades. America is
the
bastion of freedom. The peace of the world depends on the strength
of
America , and its weakness translates into the triumph of terrorism
and
victory of rogue nations. It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo
Chavez, the
Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the
Guantanamo
terrorists, and virtually all sworn enemies of America are
so thrilled by the
prospect of their man in the White House.
America is on the
verge of destruction. There is no insanity
greater than electing a
pathological narcissist as president
