Hillary Clinton, "Sick," "Shocked" and "Appalled" by Allegations Against Weinstein: "Is It Safe?"

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Are you crazy about movies? One of my favorite flicks is the 1976 thriller "Marathon Man," in which Babe (Dustin Hoffman) is repeatedly asked under dental torture by Nazi war criminal Dr. Christian Szell (Lawrence Olivier), "Is it safe?" What does this have to do with anything, you ask? Answer: Everything.

In a CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria to be shown on Sunday, Hillary Clinton informs the alleged serial plagiarist that she is "sick," "shocked" and "appalled" by the allegations of sexual abuse leveled against Harvey Weinstein.

Will I watch this interview on Sunday? Not a chance. I can think of many other ways to make myself ill. But perhaps someone capable of watching Hillary and Fareed will be kind enough to inform us whether Zakaria asked Hillary if she is "sick," "shocked" and "appalled" by the allegations of sexual abuse leveled against her husband.

My guess is that Zakaria did not ask Hillary this question. After all, it wouldn't be "safe," not if he ever wanted to interview Hillary or Bill again.

Which is why the allegations against Weinstein didn't arise earlier: It wasn't "safe," particularly when President Trump's "Grab ’em by the pussy" declaration barely elicited a yawn from his army of supporters. As Donald observed in that same discussion with Billy Bush:

"And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."

And consider: A majority of Americans voted for Hillary for president, notwithstanding her long-standing marriage to a man alleged to have raped, groped and sexually harassed other women. Hillary herself has been accused of attempting to intimidate the women who complained about Bill's alleged conduct.

How many of us don't dare raise allegations of wrongdoing in the workplace, owing to fears that a given person or organization, with a war chest of tens of millions of dollars, will hire a Goliath law firm and attempt to squash you like a bug?

Which is why all of us must constantly ask ourselves, "Is it safe?"

In fact, it rarely is.

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.