Dec
16

Obama: Dispassionate Academic with Delusions of Grandeur

It is one thing to be extremely knowledgeable and/or talented and to “know it” — that is, adopt a cockiness or snobbishness as a result. At least there is a valid basis for the feeling of superiority, however annoying and insensitive it may be. It is another thing to find yourself in a position of power & responsibility for which you are not entirely prepared and, realizing this, seek to acquire the necessary knowledge & skills, avail yourself of advisers with the relevant expertise, and not assume you can just charm everyone into doing what you want, despite your being a novice. This would be quite admirable, in fact. But, it is quite another thing entirely to be in the latter position, while retaining the attitude of the first person I described.

The problem with President Obama — well, one of them, anyway — is that he has such a high opinion of himself, he apparently cannot see (or admit to himself) how much he doesn’t know or understand about the way the world really is or his own inadequacy to handle what is required of his current office. This is why he is dangerous to the U.S. and the free world at large.

In The Amateur, Edward Klein relates an interview he had with “one of [Obama’s] oldest Chicago acquaintances.” The unnamed interviewee recalled:

“Ever since I’ve known him, Obama has had delusions of grandeur and a preoccupation with his place in history. He is afflicted with megalomania. How else can you explain the chutzpah of an obscure community organizer who began writing his autobiography before he was thirty years old — and before he had any accomplishments to write about? And how else can you explain the chutzpah of a first-term United States senator, who believed he was qualified for the most difficult job in the world — the presidency — even though he had never held a real job in his life?

You can explain it with any number of words: arrogance, conceit, egotism, vanity, hubris. But whatever word you choose, it spells the same thing — disaster for the country he leads.”

No argument there.

Another facet of Obama’s personality comes from Dr. David Scheiner, Obama’s personal physician for 22 years who is a leftist in favor European-style socialized medicine. But, Scheiner is now rather disillusioned with Obama and believes Obamacare will be a failure and huge setback to health reform. When asked to reflect on the reasons for Obama’s failed presidency, Scheiner observed that he was never able to develop the kind of personal relationship with Obama that he has with his other patients.

“It was a purely professional relationship. He was always gracious and polite. But I never really connected to him. He was distant. When I think of why he’s had problems in the White House, I think there is too much of the University of Chicago in him. By which I mean he’s academic, lacks passion and feeling, and doesn’t have the sense of humanity that I expected.”

Ouch!

Returning to the issue of Obama’s arrogance, the following is an assessment by veteran journalist Richard Z. Chesnoff, who has 40+ years of experience reporting from the Middle East and has done extensive research on Obama’s management style:

“In my opinion, Obama’s problem in dealing with the Arab-Israeli conundrum doesn’t come from the advice he’s getting from his advisers, but rather from his one-man style and his inflated view of his own leadership talents. Obama believes that no matter what the odds against it, he can bring everyone together, kumbaya style, so that we can solve hitherto insoluble problems. Perhaps even more egregiously, he seems to have an exaggerated sense of his own depth of understanding of the Middle East, which is simply not borne out by his background or experience.”