Believing his own bullshit
Towards the end of this recent post I wrote:
I was thinking today that Obama and his helpmates lie so often and so globally and reflexively that I wonder if they can even discern when they are lying and when they are not.
Commenter “Charles” responded:
I have thought this often as well. I’m no psychiatrist; but, don’t real narcissists actually believe what they say? Sort of like they live in their own made-up reality and cannot tell fact from fiction.
Not only that, but presidents—all presidents, not just Obama—tend to live in a bubble where the isolation of White House living, the puffery and perks of the office, and the protection their underlings afford from harsh reality tend to increase as time goes on, which in turn increases the inclination to lose track of truth and begin to believe one’s own lies.
A president needs to be wise enough to counter this by making it clear to his staff that he wants to hear the worst. But the news from the Obama White House is that Obama has given his staff the opposite message:
…[N]o one wanted to even hint to the president that this techno-savvy administration possibly had a website stuck in, say, 1995. “People don’t like to tell him bad news,” says an ex-White House staffer. “Part of it is the no-drama culture.”…
Indeed. People who have served in top jobs at the White House seem to agree on one thing: a president who wants to get at the truth has to understand the extent of his own isolation. And then establish a zone of immunity for truth-tellers.
Not gonna happen, and that’s due to the narcissism. Obama would rather deal with the worshipful (and I mean that literally) Valerie Jarrett:
He knows exactly how smart he is… I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually… He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do. He would never be satisfied with what ordinary people do.
Obama’s opinion of himself even before taking office was extraordinarily high, and that’s compared to a group (presidential aspirants) not especially known for their humility.
But perhaps the most telling quote in terms of what Obama believes or doesn’t believe is true comes from Obama himself. It occurred during a conversation with journalist Richard Wolffe, and appears in Renegade, a book published in 2009 and based on Wolffe’s coverage of Obama’s 2008 campaign:
Every now and then in Renegade, a moment arrives when it seems Obama might reveal something, some tiny thing, about himself. “You know, I actually believe my own bullshit,” Obama told Wolffe with a smile. But what for a nanosecond seemed like candor – would the candidate actually examine his own B.S.? – was just another talking point, as he explained to Wolffe that he truly wanted to bring change to America for better health care, for better schools, and especially for “the kid on the streets.”
There’s much about this quote that’s revealing. First, there’s the serious message Obama is trying to deliver within the joke about bs: “I truly believe that I can make people’s lives better.” But if he really does believe that, then why insert a subtle disclaimer (it’s all “bullshit”) inherent in the casually deprecating tone that seems to negate its seriousness and casts an ironic and juvenile eye on the entire enterprise?
And then, of course, there’s the more subtle message beneath. Obama seems to be admitting that, at least at the moment when he utters whatever bullshit he happens to be spewing, he does believe it. That trick of believing and yet not believing is one of the exercises at which narcissists and con men are skilled. In order to sell a product convincingly, it’s necessary to believe your own bullshit, if only temporarily.
But there’s also another level operating here, one that was described very well by Hilton Kramer. In the following quote he is speaking of Stalinists, but what he says is applicable to the majority of leftists such as Obama as well:
It is in the nature of Stalinism for its adherents to make a certain kind of lying – and not only to others, but first of all to themselves – a fundamental part of their lives. It is always a mistake to assume that Stalinists do not know the truth about the political reality they espouse. If they don’t know the truth (or all of it) one day, they know it the next, and it makes absolutely no difference to them politically For their loyalty is to something other than the truth.
So Obama’s ability to lie, and his relationship to his own lies, is multiply-determined: by his narcissism, by the fact of his being a president who is protected from the harsh truth, and by his leftism. He believes and does not believe at the same time, and shifts between the two depending on the strategic value of one or the other attitude at any given moment.
Their loyalty is to their ideology because they believe their ideology is the truth.
Obama shifts between belief and realism depending upon the strategic value of one or the other to his ideological agenda, the fount of all truth…
correction; his ideology being the fount of all truth.
I’m not so sure. It is all b.s. to him, but it has been necessary, in order for him to achieve his material goals, starting as an organizer in Chi. He just organized the rabble; that was his goal. Personally, he is a flaming capitalist, just like a bank robber.
He learned how to organize a larger rabble from Jeremiah Wright, and to live very well off of them while so doing. He successfully b.s.ed his way to the top, telling the pinheads what they wanted to hear while sticking knives into his roadblocks. He is, as the Clintons and others in politics have been (some better at it than others), a *celebrity*.
What does a Kardashian really believe? Who cares? Same for Obama. He’s made it, riding AF 1, 9 different pies baked for him and “his (?) extended family” for Thanksgiving.
You do not have to buy into your own b.s. in order to sell 76 trombones in River City. You just have to know the marks, and act well.
There is certainly a lot of conman in Obama. But he is not strictly motivated by personal gain. He’s a true believer willing to be pragmatic, if it advances the agenda. Were he simply a conman his actions would not be so consistent in pursuit of his ideological goals. His incompetence is a reflection of his lack of real world experience, ideological blinders and his personal laziness.
Obama respects a good liar and accuses anyone brave enough to tell the truth. That’s basically his foreign policy as well as his domestic policy. Foreign policy in that he respects and rewards liars; Domestic policy in that he respects and rewards himself as the best and chief liar and Jarrett as the next and best chief liar.
So much to loathe with this man. One never really gets to the bottom of the mire pit, does one?
It’s mire all the way down.
Cetainly not much to ad mire.
From Neo above:
“which in turn increases the inclination to lose track of truth and begin to believe one’s own lies.”
Welcome to postmodernism, the land of multiple truths: What A thinks of as truth is truth to A; B’s truth on the same topic is B’s but not A’s.
In postmodernism there are no liars because there are no lies, all truths are relative, and each truth is, to some greater or lesser extent, *true*.
vanderleun: at the risk of sounding “ra-a-a-a-cist”, it is a black hole.
Lyndon Johnson was a past master at this. Someone would point to his face that he was wrong, LBJ would do a 180 without blinking an eye and continue on course. He was beaten over the head for this by the press who named it “the credibility gap”. Even though the press was made up of flaming libs even then, the press called him out for his lies, though without Viet Nam, I doubt that it would have happened.
Whittiker Chambers described dedicated communists having the same, infinitely flexible belief system. Reminds me of the Red Queen, Nancy Pelosi.
Orwell described the practice as doublethink.
The devotee is expected to slide through a flux of truthiness — shifting his steps like a tap dancer — forever on the toes.
In electronics: a multi-vibrator — the ultimate flip-flop circuit.
Witness JFK, who’s always, it seems, on BOTH sides of one issue — but never wrong!
In Sci Fi: a perpetual changeling — or perhaps Asimov’s ‘Mule.’ A critter that’s all things to all people — all of the time.
In fact, the Mule is not anchored down to any particular set of values — other than the instant moment — and his id.
Amen, Neoneocon!!
Charles: It isn’t that narcissisits believe their own lying bullshit. Often they know their own lies. It’s that they believe that YOU will believe their lying bullshit.
I think what you are describing in political terms is what Freud termed fetishism….a boy’s belief that his Mother has a penis even though he has seen she doesn’t…..
Malignant personalities are endlessly amazing. Often Evil to the bones. Billy Bubba rarely believed his own bullshit, I think, but he continuously believed WE would believe him. He had a prime example under his own roof and(sometimes)in his own bed: Missus Clinton. Sick, Co-Dependent, Repeated endlessly the ‘Come here/Go away’ crap and absent a moral polar north her own Needy-Hugely Ambitious Self.
Detectives love to get malignant narcissists in the interrogation room. The police know that the psychopath/murderer across the table believes he/she is smarter than them. They play to it and suck the slimebags into life terms in SanQuentin, Stark and Angola Farm.
There are a lot of people who are loyal to their own brand above all else. Even in the most unlikely of places.
G,B: “Were he simply a conman his actions would not be so consistent in pursuit of his ideological goals.”
Yep, Clinton was a con man who could change direction when he sensed the need to. Example: “The era of big government is over.” He didn’t believe it, but he knew he needed to say it.
Obama, on the other hand, would never say anything like that. Does anyone believe he could ever say, “The ACA was not the solution we hoped it would be.” Or that, “Government cannot create jobs, only the private sector can.” His ideological rigidness is his nemesis. The ACA is falling apart and it’s now apparent to many dems that it must be changed/repealed. He will never be able to admit that. If he does, it will be only to avoid his impeachment. Maybe not even then.
J.J….
He’s only going to push back twice as hard.
That’s how he rolls… you.
Knockout game…
Knock up game…
Knock over game…
Obamanomics!
How can someone who still uses a Blackberry be considered “tech savvy”?
Someone asked why Obama doesn’t speak out against the knock out game.
I told them that Obama already knocked out Libya and Egypt’s leadership. Why should he say anything bad about a game he already plays?
The George Costanza presidency.
“It’s not a lie if you believe it!”
He does know they’re lies (unless he is completely insane.) One cannot say one thing on Tuesday then say the opposite on Thursday on such a consistent basis, and be sincere. One cannot tell the military one thing on Saturday and Code Pink the opposite on Sunday, while being sincere. He says what he thinks will make him popular.
You have to remember that he is a lawyer and has spent some time with street people in the ghetto: he knows that unless he is under oath, he can get away with saying almost anything he likes. “Shining people on” and blowing people off are two of his great talents.
He exaggerates and makes outrageous false accusations, then later calls it “hyperbole”.
He reverses himself, and later calls it “evolving”. Or, worse, he says that his new position is consistent with his old position, and acidly remarks that this is what he has been saying all along (insinuating that we are not paying attention or are too stupid to understand his “nuance”.)
His word is worthless, below even the low bar normally set for politicians.
If we did not have a sycophantic pack of lap dogs as the White House press corps, everyone in the world would see what a brazen liar he and his press secretary are.
The bullshit game!
Brought to you by the lovely folks of Michelle and Barack, Incorporated.
Because we love fascism.
For you.
You know, it’s as if these guys read Orwell’s 1984 and, rather than viewing it as a cautionary tale, decided to make it their instruction manual.
Get ready to get bullshit.
http://www.breitbart.com/
The Roman Empire had similar problems. At first it was economic corruption and the Senate with their slave farms and luxuries. Then Nero and Caligula came on the scene…
No need to go to deeply into the weeds here. Obama is a type that is timeless, a browse through history will reveal many such. Power lust, the urge to dominate and control, and better believe it, to cause misery.
The only difference with Obama is his abysmal stupidity compounded by gross ignorance. But then that’s what he has advisors for. Or is it puppeteers? But then they’re not to bright either.
Obama would not even make a good communist. Even in China they know when to be pragmatic and look at how far forward they have come since realizing that communism does not work. They even call it socialism with “Chinese characteristics.” Obama is not even smart enough to show some pragmatism. Like thinking that you can do all of this massive wealth shifting and burdensome regulation in a horrible economy. If he’d had enough brains to get the economy going he could have done pretty much what he wanted. The man is not smart. He is a cancer to his own self
Obama is a POS wrapped in a used Kleenex inside a toilet.
This is the season of joy and goodwill towards men and that’s the best I could do!
Okay. So zero believes his own bullshit, or he doesn’t.
That would be irrelevant if it weren’t for slightly more than half the electorate also believing it.
Those are the clowns I’m interested in.
In 2007 & 2008 it was ALL there to see: History of hanging with hard lefties, NO leadership experience, NO business experience, NO management experience, Intimate proximity to active communism lovers(see J.Wright & Bill/Bernardine Dohrn Ayers), NO transcripts from Graduate-Law school & NO articles published in Haevard Law Review which he edited, Horrendous Non-Record in the Illinois Senate, Horrendous Non-Record as a very brief U.S.Senate member, etc, etc, ad infinitum/ad nauseum/ad defaco. I even ‘Get’ why black folks overwhelmingly/lock-step supported His Majesty in the ’08 election. But, NOT on November 6, 2012. And, WHY women???? To go any further about blacks and(cough)women would only get me into racist/sexist infamy territory. THANK GOD for the likes of Thomas Sowell, Charles Krauthammer and Melanie Phillips–A World Turned Upside Down, indeed.
Maybe part of Obama’s problem is that he had such a weird childhood, never really belonging anywhere and lacking a regular family. Think of the title Dreams From my Father. There was never a reality–only dreams. Meanwhile he was absorbing leftist BS from what family he had, and he learned how to manipulate people with this BS. Despite all the talk about his world experience, there is no evidence that Obama ever really explored anything, including the propaganda he was fed from childhood. He always sought out situations where he would fit in and could use the propaganda to gain status and coolness. He believes he is being pragmatic, but in reality he has a firm ideologic base. However, this base is unexamined and was never committed to openly. He thinks it is the real world. And since he maneuvers so adroitly through his dream world, he truly believes he is smarter than others. He believes, but he doesn’t know that he does. He thinks he encompasses goodness. This gives him a lot of latitude.
Expat and if that is so, then the implication is that 50 million Americans will grow up to be just like him. Because the schools are using child molestation, mental indoctrination, fear, and administrative punishment to do the same thing to the environment of child care.
Ymarsakar,
And increasingly, parents are failing to build a solid basis of values for their kids.
Scary, isn’t it?
This administration offers the best example of 1984 doublethink I have seen in the US.
I thuink tribal politics is part and parcel of its success. So many are fine with whatever Obama says because of who he is, his brand or tribe.
My mother in law being a good example of someone who voted for him in 2008 because he was the Democrat choice.
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“He knows exactly how smart he is. . . . I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually. . . . He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do. He would never be satisfied with what ordinary people do.”
What a load of crap. You could say the same thing about Thomas Jefferson, Einstein, MLK, Stephen Hawking and look what they gave the world.
If that is the case, where is his contribution to society? (And I’m not talking about the ACA.) He is a narcissist, but I doubt he’s that smart – read his reddit remarks. (I kept thinking, “This is a college professor?”)
Where is that contribution? The better mouse-trap, the better light bulb? How about streamlining government to make it more efficient, less corrupt? (Talk about a Herculean task!) He’s certainly good at promoting himself and he takes advantages of opportunities like any politician. But smart?