Republicans Sneer At Obama’s Perceived “Narcissism” — So Of Course Trump Is Their Frontrunner
The conservative love for Donald Trump is puzzling on many levels, but the incredible hypocrisy shown in denigrating President Obama as the “narcissist-in-chief” while embracing Trump as the standard bearer is utterly staggering.
What’s really been bugging me is the sneering criticism President Obama has received from the right - not always the “far” right either - for his perceived “narcissism.” I’ve been wanting to write a page on this for several days, but just haven’t been able to think of a clear way to make the point.
I guess the best way is to show the disgust conservatives have shown with Obama’s perceived “narcissism” — while completely ignoring actual narcissism for their current frontrunner
In 2014, Charles Krauthammer criticized the president on the Hugh Hewitt show, as reported by Politico:
Conservative columnist — and former psychiatrist — Charles Krauthammer took time Monday for presidential couch analysis, saying President Barack Obama is not manic but, rather, a narcissist who “talks like the emperor, Napoleon.”
“So I decided when I left psychiatry never to use my authority. But let me just say as a layman, without invoking any expertise, Obama is clearly a narcissist in the non-scientific use of the word. He is so self-involved, you see it from his rise,” Krauthammer said Monday on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” according to a transcript.
Here’s an entire segment of the Rush Limbaugh show titled, “Iran Deal Is All About Obama’s Narcissism,” from just 5 months ago:
The Iranians know this guy better than he knows himself. They know he cannot ever admit error. He’s a narcissist. It’s impossible. In his own mind he can’t ever be wrong. In his own mind he cannot ever have screwed up. In his own mind he cannot ever have made a mistake. And so no matter what happens, no matter what happens to this deal, if it continues to get torn apart, Obama will do anything, any concession to keep it alive because he can never arrive at the point where he would have to admit that it’s a bad thing to have done.
And as evidence of this “narcissism,” they point to how many times he used the words “I” in speeches:
Here’s George Will:
“I,” said the president, who is inordinately fond of the first-person singular pronoun, “want to disabuse people of this notion that somehow we enjoy meddling in the private sector.” He said that in March, when the government already owned 80 percent of AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “When a difficult decision has to be made on matters like where to open a new plant or what type of new car to make, the new GM, not the United States government, will make that decision.”
Krauthammer again:
I mean, count the number of times he uses the word I in any speech, and compare that to any other president. Remember when he announced the killing of bin Laden? That speech I believe had 29 references to I - on my command, I ordered, as commander-in-chief, I was then told, I this. You’d think he’d pulled the trigger out there in Abbottabad.
How about a Daily Caller article criticizing Obama as “narcissist-in-chief?”
But one thing that has bothered me is the president’s narcissism. Indeed, perhaps not surprisingly for a man whose principal accomplishment before becoming president was to write two autobiographies, Obama has seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about himself on these trips. And it’s not just Obama, but the First Lady, too.
…and now Donald Trump is leading - or more appropriately crushing the competition - in the Republican primary. They are truly a remarkable bunch.