Obama, A Narcissist?

[wdorholt]

I agree that we have gotten off topic from the Master Sgt posting so I will respond to the previous posts here.

MacE,

You are amazing in the amount of information you put together for your posts. I find them quite educational! Thanks!

I read the articles and found the following bits most helpful:

"Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist. Granted, only a qualified mental health diagnostician (which I am not) can determine whether someone suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and this, following lengthy tests and personal interviews..."

"While I'm not in a position to offer a definite diagnosis about Obama, there are reasons to be concerned about his character and his ability to look reality squarely in the face. Here are some of my impressions and observations."

"Only a qualified mental health diagnostician can determine whether someone suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and this, following lengthy tests and personal interview..."

"You should read this text with a few grains of salt. Scroll to the bottom to review the disclaimers. I am not a mental health professional."


Most of the articles cited did a good job listing the characteristics of Narcissism, and the quotes above are important context. There was a blog that was merely ravings and used the information of one of the people above as if he was able to diagnosis, which is an inappropriate use of the information by that blog. There was the psychotherapist quoted above second, who wrote a rather long bit about factors in Obama's childhood that concerned him, but he failed to mention that those only count if the person has a diagnosis, which he says he can't give.

So, what we have is a good deal of opinion but nothing factual. I believe it is important to point this out because, while everyone is entitled to their opinion, it shouldn't be passed off as fact. When we do that, like say Obama is a Narcissist, we start accepting everything that he does as narcissistic. The term itself contains a good deal of characteristics that we begin to assume he has, and start looking for these characteristics to gather additional proof of the fact of his narcism, which is false. We begin thinking only emotionally, and not rationally. We need a balance.

So I would like to propose that if we are of the opinion that Obama is a narcissist, or of a different opinion, we share it as opinion and not treat it as fact. Realize that an opinion is an interpretation of facts or events, not the facts or events themselves and is proof of nothing. And people are many things, not labels or merely someone's opinion. We should be kind enough to support our opinion with the facts or events that lead to that opinion. If the facts or events are allowed to be discussed and disputed, perhaps opinions can be supported or information exchanged that creates new opinions to form.

[Jillian]

I agree Wdorholt. To say he's narcissistic is likely accurate because most politicians, entertainers and the like are. To establish that he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder would only be possible if a psych eval was completed and shared w/the American people.

I did think it interesting when one of the articles believed presidents should have background checks and psych evals!

Jillian

[Patch]

I could back something like that. The person in our family was a full blown narcissist (diagnosed). He is now awaiting sentencing for liberties he took with the law during the divorce and since.

His ex-wife was the first to bring up the similarities between obama and her ex-husband.

Slàint,   

 Patch