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President Obama's penchant for inspiring slogans, showy speeches, and dropping in on late-night talk shows has won him some just teasing. One of the more popular ways to do this is by calling him out as a narcissist--a label that has stuck on Obama since before day one of taking office. As Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly notes, the Chicago Olympics debacle has prompted a healthy revival of the phrase, even enlisting some heavy-hitters on the left. A survey:
George Will
October 6, 2009, The Washington Post: "Although the working of the committee's mind is murky, it could reasonably have rejected Chicago's bid for the 2016 Games on aesthetic grounds -- unless narcissism has suddenly become an Olympic sport."
August 3, 2009, The Washington Post: "Obama should be told: Enough, already, with the we-are-who-we-have-been-waiting-for rhetorical cotton candy that elevates narcissism to a political philosophy."
Charles Krauthammer
July 18, 2008, The Washington Post: "There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?"