Amsterdam Researchers Reveal US President Obama's Secret

US President Obama burst on the international scene as a political wunderkind, while still in his 40s. Having already written two autobiographies by the age of 45, Mr. Obama has clearly been on the fast track to power from the time he was elected to the Illinois Senate. And yet Mr. Obama had never actually accomplished anything substantial in his entire life -- certainly nothing worthy of two autobiographies nor warranting being elected to the most powerful political position in the world. What is his secret?

Narcissists rise to the top. That's because other people think their qualities -- confidence, dominance, authority, and self-esteem -- make them good leaders.

..."Our research shows that the opposite seems to be true," says Barbora Nevicka, a PhD candidate in organizational psychology, describing a new study she undertook with University of Amsterdam colleagues Femke Ten Velden, Annebel De Hoogh, and Annelies Van Vianen. The study found that the narcissists' preoccupation with their own brilliance inhibits a crucial element of successful group decision-making and performance: the free and creative exchange of information and ideas. The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

... "The narcissistic leaders had a very negative effect on their performance. They inhibited the communication because of self-centeredness and authoritarianism." _SD

US President Obama is the narcissist's narcissist. Among all the world's narcissists, Mr. Obama would surely rank at the top. So in a perverse sense of logic, it is fitting that Obama has reached the world's top political ranking.

But for the people who must suffer from Obama's arrogant incompetence, the news is not so good.

The question is, are there enough Americans left with above average intelligence, awareness, and wisdom, to remove this narcissist among naricssists from a position of world power? If not, the doom we experience could rightly be dubbed, "The Revenge of the Narcissists."