Well well. Looks like narcissism is the theme of the week. Now, hold on a second while I comb my hair just right.
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Ooookay, all done. Don't want to have anything out of place while you're reading this.
First things first: The Surgeon General warns that french words may be harmful to your health, and the paragraphs below contain links to some. So be warned.
I woke up this morning to an interesting article in Cyberpresse, a Montreal french newspaper. It's interesting for the main reason that I believe perception forges reality for most people, and in this case, if this is the perception already attributed to Hillary Clinton by two political psychologists coming from both sides of the Atlantic pond, she's in for a sweet ride.
For most of you who don't read french, here's the main gist of the article. A few days ago, Nicolas Sarkozy insulted a farmer who refused to shake his hand. It created a controversy, another one for Sarkozy it seems, in France and other parts of Europe. Of course, where controversy lies, analysis, fluff and speculations follow. In this particular article, the two political psychologists linked above get involved in the action and come up with a diagnostic for Sarkozy: Compensating narcissistic personality type. What does that have to do with Hillary Clinton?
The money shot in the article is this, Babel Fish translated.
The leaders of this type "appear calm and trustful or optimistic and merry. Except when their narcissistic confidence is shaken or that their plans are opposed. On these occasions, there is a short rise of rage ", explains this specialist in political psychology.
On the scale which it uses to draw up the psychological profile of the politicians, narcissism and predominance are found all in top at Sarkozy. The profile of the French president is thus "almost exactly the same one as that of Hillary Clinton".
I find this paragraph particularly interesting. It reflects almost to a "T" the main points I read on this site and elsewhere, namely that believing the nomination to be a "fait accompli", when it didn't go according to plan, a side of Senator Clinton came out that may have taken a lot of people by surprise.
It might be just me, but it seems to me that when you're seeking the highest office in the land, you don't want to start your career by being compared to a leader who is attracting international bad press for of his character flaws like lodestones attract metal.
But like I said, it might be just me. We french canucks are funny this way.