‘Narcissist’ widens political divide in US

Narcissist Nation is another unbridled assault on president Barack Obama—this time by arch-conservative George J Marlin.

“Nation” traces the emergence of a pampered class of Americans—the progeny of baby boomers.

Gone are the days when meritocracy reigned and hard work was extolled. It was all downhill after the Second World War and Roosevelt’s New Deal.

A system of entitlement was engendered—the seeds of which were passed on to a rambunctious, lofty, idealistic and elitist group of self appointed leaders in the US.

You can call them arm chair intellectuals or sophists. They were the backbone of feminist ideology and the antiwar movement of the 60s.

Today, they are the ones who threaten American exceptionalism and are bent on turning the country and its sacred constitution on its head.

According to Marlin, this is the putrid lot from which Obama was spawned.

Initially, Narcissist Nation is engaging and seemingly apolitical.

After all, we have all critcised today’s youth and could well identify with a clearly frustrated author.

He writes: “Parental narcissism rubbed off on many of the 50 million millennial generation…the children of parents who received Botox treatment, tummy tucks and plastic surgery…Like their parents they also expected to be constant center of attention. Fame was a right, as was never having one’s feeling hurt. The Internet’s ‘My Space,’ and ‘Facebook’ further promoted their narcissism…”

You get the picture. Marlin’s views hold court. This is the dangerous subtlety of Marlin’s opening salvos. 

Admittedly, his is a seductive chatter. Then again, trashing youths has been the perennial pastime of fading generations—a kind of right and curious heirloom of mankind.

But whatever intrigue Marlin has garnered thus far, descends into foreboding scenarios—casting Obama and his generation as the villainous wreckers of American civilisation.

Marlin is invidious and he lays bare his duplicity! In a far reaching leap, the author unabashedly injects Obama—inextricably binding him to a worthless bunch of narcissists.

He cites columnist Michael Goodwin who wrote in 2009 that Obama was a stage man…whose favourite words were, “I,” “My,” and “Me.”

That in his first State of the Union speech Obama is said to have used the word “I” 96 times; “my,” and “me” 18 times. And that Fox News had calculated that after nine months the president referred to himself 1,109 times in 41 formal speeches.

At this point, Marlin’s rage oozes—page after page. The toxicity embedded in his paranoid inductions is dangerously misleading and will only be condoned by ideologues of the conservative fringe.

He uses the long discounted interpretation of Obama Health Care as ammunition against the democratic party—dismissing independent findings that the so called “death panels” are baseless—a myth—with absolutely nothing to suggest that the elderly will be denied treatment.

Marlin is on a tear—relentless—linking liberal democrats with the sordid history of eugenics.

As if this was not enough, liberals are viewed as monolithic believers in behavioral economics and the inalienable right to control a supposedly sheepish and mindless citizenry.

Yes, liberal democrats—according to the author, peddle in a kind of secular theocracy with ominous shades of fascism, communism and Nazism—defiling the Judeo-Christian foundation of nation.

This is George Marlin at his fear mongering best.

Surely, the likes of Marlin will shun a Political Performance Indicator designed by HumanMetrics.

The study revealed personality traits of many political leaders of different countries in various historical periods—analysed and juxtaposed with the performance of their government.

The findings produced four distinct characteristics of the political leader: Rationality, Authoritativeness, Adventurousness and Inspiration.

In other words, leaders—of every persuasion are moved by faith in their unique talents and gifts—an audacity of hope, so to speak.

Sadly, Marlin, in his apriori calumny for Obama, conveniently refers to this trait as narcissism. If only Marlin could be shown his folly—raging against personal exceptionalism, intellectualism, and even a generation that has revolutionised technology and more—but to what end?

There is just no reasoning with a desperate curmudgeon on the brink of irrelevance.