|
... but I'm a "highly knowledgeable layperson"...I'm the daughter of two shrinks who were studying for their Ph.D.'s while I was in high school...mom essentially "took" me through her program. I "got" to hear lectures about every single new topic she had studied, and had the (god-awful) privilege of being her guinea pig that she could psychoanalyze every chance she got...and there was no escaping. I'm a confused mess to this day, but highly knowledgeable; even my father thinks the school my parents attended should grant me an honorary doctorate!
Anyway...
Bush knows that he is a sham, that his Presidency wasn't earned, that he's illegit (in terms of qualifications and public support). His excessive wearing and display of the Presidential Seal, statements like, "I'm the Decider", "I'm a War President", "My Decision(s)", etc etc and his need to be shielded from naysayers ("Free Speech zones", hand-picked audiences, etc) are all mechanisms by which he is attempting to "prove" that he is substantial (because, in reality, he knows he isn't).
People who know whole-heartedly that they are the "genuine article", "the Real Deal", and are secure with themselves and accomplishments have no need to flaunt awards, status, degrees, etc. They know who they are and thus have no need to "prove" themselves--to themselves or anyone else. They have a strong sense of Self ("Self" with a capital "S" is different from "self" with a lower-case "s").
Those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) have no "Self" (that is the essence of the disorder)...that's why the name "Narcissistic". Narcissus was the guy who looked into the water, saw his reflection, and fell in love with it. The reflection that he fell in love with was just an image and in liquid, meaning that what he fell in love with was not only not real and "nothing to it", but it was not solid/substantial--agitate the water ever-so-slightly and the image becomes distorted or disappears entirely. Narcissus fell in love not with a person, but a fleeting image with no substance. The Narcissist (person with NPD) is in love with an image of himself that has no basis in reality, and demands that that image that he decides he wants is "reflected" (like Narcissus' image in the water) to him by his environment. His image of himself, like a reflected image in water, can be shaken or destroyed with the slightest agitation, which is intolerable to the narcissist; thus, anything and anyone that does or might possibly "agitate" his own desired image of himself must be destroyed or banished, and constant external reinforcement of the narcissist's desired image of himself (and how wonderful he is) must be present.
Bush is a narcissist (has NPD). His desired image is that he is "chosen" by the American people, powerful, capable, correct, heroic, wise, and--most of all--*important*. Bush's ultimate hang-up, in my view, is his overwhelming need to be seen as *important*. "I don't pay attention to polls" and "I don't read the newspapers" translates to "I'm too *important* to do such things". "I'm a War President", means "See, I'm an *important* President! I'll be prominent in the history books because I did something *important*!" He was "too important" to complete his stint in the Air National Guard, "too important" to bother studying to get better grades, he's "too important" to bother working on speaking correctly, and so on.
Bush requires constant external reinforcement of his desired image--which is really his desired Self (of which he has none)--and banishment of anything that either does not actively reinforce said image or goes so far as to counter it. Hence, the "Free Speech" zones, hand-picked audiences of cheering supporters, "advisors" who never tell him he's wrong, the firing of people who oppose any of his ideas or policies, and so on and so forth. His image of himself as President is as fragile as a reflection in water...and, as is always for the narcissist, his image of himself is a substitute for an actual Self; without his image, there is nothing. There is nothing to this man; there is no Self, no substance.
His (false) identity is that Presidential Seal. Take the Presidential Seal away from him and nothingness is revealed. Bush knows--at least subconsciously--that he has no Self, and his surrounding himself with the seal is his desperate attempt to assume his identity as a person who is Presidential (his desired image)--knowledgeable, wise, capable, important, and chosen by the American people to lead. He puts the seal on everything to provide him with constant reinforcement of his (deluded) image of himself.
Same goes for the whole "Texan" thing: boots, BBQ food (like at the inaugural ball), stupid "accent", constant references to Texas--"In Texas, we have a saying...", having world leaders meet with him at the "Texas ranch", the cowboy shtick, etc.
Same also goes for the "Commander-in-Chief"/military service/war thing: flight suit, surrounding himself with soldiers, incessant "commander-in-chief" crap (it was written on the plane, he has jackets that have the "title", etc), "we're at war", "in this time of war", speeches at military bases, and so on.
The narcissist is the ultimate "wanna-be". But the narcissist never "can be", because without a Self, one can't "be". "Be-ing" requires identity, and identity requires Self. No Self=No identity. With Bush, it really, truly IS all about image. Because that's all there is.
Make sense?
|