Obama personalizes the political

Almost since he first appeared on the scene, I’ve hammered relentlessly away on Obama’s narcissism, a personality disorder that places him at the center of his own universe, with everyone person and nation ranked by whether he, she or it makes him look good or makes him look bad.  (Which is why the friend of yesterday, such as Wright, by making Obama look bad can suddenly become the enemy of today.)  This personal universe has no time for morality or justice or loyalty or decency.  It’s all personal, and a sociopath controls the rankings.

Sadly, sociopathy is a common disorder, and Obama couldn’t do what he does without the complicity of a lot of fellow travelers — people who share both his politics and his narcissism.  Nor is Obama’s behavior unique in time.  It’s happened before, always without bad outcomes.

Because Obama’s behavior is predictable for a power hungry sociopath, it’s also happened in the world of art, with the Godfather probably being the most well-known artistic portrayal of the politics of narcissism.  In a Pajamas Media article, Nicholas Guariglia brilliantly captures how Obama and his coterie of made men have turned Bush’s White House into “Francis Ford Coppola’s White House:”

From the get-go, Obama has had some trouble with moral clarity. Hamas and Hezbollah have “legitimate claims,” but his domestic critics and fellow countrymen do not? He thinks he can make nice with the “moderate Taliban,” but won’t engage some of his political opponents in a mature dialogue? Obama seems more worried about the Limbaughs, Hannitys, and Joe the Plumbers of the world than the Khameneis, Assads, Jong Ils, Ahmadinejads, and Rafsanjanis — more concentrated on his domestic opponents than on our country’s foreign adversaries. All hail the commander-in-chief.

To go after private citizens, journalists, and people on radio and television with such vitriol is unprecedented in contemporary American politics. This is not how a man who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is supposed to conduct himself. Michael Corleone once assuaged his brother’s fears by saying, “It isn’t personal. It’s strictly business.”

Read the whole thing. It’s freaky when life imitates this kind of art.