Insecurity, narcissism and hostility--everything we want in a leader

Echidne of the Snakes has this photo up of George W. Bush "playfully slapping" Congressman Al Green at the NAACP convention. Several people, on her blog and on other blogs, have commented that Bush's grabbing, slapping and massaging people reflects his sense of ownership and entitlement. I could not agree more with that assessment, and I'll add his habit of giving people unwanted nicknames.

A couple of days ago, I wrote that Bush is a prime example of a developmentally arrested male who is under-socialized and so insecure that he acts like a fool much of the time and makes fun of things he does not understand (which would be most things). Add a sense of entitlement to that and you have a person with whom it is difficult to have an appropriate relationship.

I would now like to add a third element to the motivation behind Bush's boorish behavior: It is hostile. Like the person who says "it was just a joke" when challenged for his not-so-funny remarks, Bush laughs off his grabbing and slapping with a "look at me, I'm just a practical joker kind of guy" attitude. We must not forget that, as a child, Bush placed firecrackers inside frogs, then tossed them like grenades and blew them up. He executed a record number of people when he was governor of Texas. Once, when he was drinking (I know, I know...), he asked for his wife's opinion about something, and when she gave it, he became so enraged that he drove their car right through the closed garage door. He has repeatedly been testy with reporters who have asked him legitimate questions, and he has been unbelievably callous toward the loss of lives of our soldiers in Iraq.

So we are dealing with a developmentally arrested, narcissistic, insecure, hostile man. That, of course, is on top of the lying and cheating that is part and parcel of his personality. Who is proud of America now?