Maureen Dowd, "The Ungrateful President": Does Obama Suffer From a Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Ungrateful President" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/opinion/dowd-the-ungrateful-president.html), Maureen Dowd irreverently needles Obama and his supporters. Dowd begins by describing a Barack Obama fund raiser at the estate of film producer Harvey Weinstein "in a softly lit room shimmering with . . . black American Express cards," at which Weinstein said of Obama, "You can make the case that he’s the Paul Newman of American presidents.” Dowd, however, concludes her opinion piece by observing in typical snarky fashion that in contrast to Obama's indifference to those who help him, "Paul Newman sent thank-you notes."

Complimenting the president, Dowd observes that "Obama smashed through all the barriers and dysfunction in his life to become a self-made, self-narrating president."

Self-narrating president? In fact, Obama and his presidency have been characterized by his omnipresent teleprompters and the carefully selected words placed in his mouth by David Axelrod, David Plouffe (now said to have received $100,000 from an affiliate of a firm doing business with Iran, see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-associate-got-100000-fee-from-affiliate-of-firm-doing-business-with-iran/2012/08/05/5e6888a2-dda2-11e1-8e43-4a3c4375504a_story.html),
and Anita (Mao is one of "my favorite political philosophers", see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2009/10/what-if-anita-dunn-had-said-two-of-my.html) Dunn.

However, Dowd then provides evidence of Obama's iciness, which has alienated many of his most fervent supporters:

"Stories abound of big donors who stopped giving as much or working as hard because Obama never reached out, either with a Clinton-esque warm bath of attention or Romney-esque weekend love fests and Israeli-style jaunts; of celebrities who gave concerts for his campaigns and never received thank-you notes or even his full attention during the performance; of public servants upset because they knocked themselves out at the president’s request and never got a pat on the back."

Should we be drawing similarities between Obama and "Cool Hand Luke," or is there something else at play?

According to the Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/narcissistic-personality-disorder/DS00652/):

"Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. Those with narcissistic personality disorder believe that they're superior to others and have little regard for other people's feelings. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem, vulnerable to the slightest criticism."

Enough said. Now go figure it out for yourselves.

By the way, what happens to "self-narrating" Obama without a teleprompter? It's not pretty.