Why Arrogance, Narcissism and Hubris is Fatal in a President

John McCain just released this ad.





Now, it has become a common attack line from those in the Conservative media to annoit Barack Obama with such labels as arrogant and narcissistic. Without examining the veracity of such claims, let's look at why such traits can be so fatal to a President.



One of the things I have learned in following cases of corruption in medicine is that arrogance is one of the worst traits in doctors. Arrogance makes doctors dismissive of others opinions. It makes them careless, and it makes doctors closed minded to new approaches.



Fools Rush In retells the story of the doomed merger of AOL and Time Warner. Arrogance played a large role in that endeavor blowing up on all those involved. Both Steve Case and Jerry Levy were so consumed by the possibilities of the merger than neither one ever gave even one thought to all of the potential pitfalls that such a merger created. As such, they rushed into the merger and gave absolutely no thought to the clear culture clash that the buttoned down Time Warner staff would have with the short sleeve shirt mentality of AOL.



Just as in business and medicine, arrogance can be one of the worst traits in politics. For most of us, an arrogant person is simply someone we have a visceral negative reaction to. Yet, I don't know how many of us think about what their arrogance can do to them. I think most folks that run for President must be at least a little if not a lot arrogant or how else would they believe they are capable of such a monumental task. That said, any President must be able to balance self confidence and principle with arrogance. Any President that becomes so confident that they become arrogant becomes a danger to themselves and the country.



Let's look at some of the potential problems that arrogance would bring to an Obama Presidency.



1) Health care



Barack Obama is determined to bring universal health care to this country. Now, if Obama is arrogant to the point of dangerous, he will start to see delusions of grandeur in this mission. He will likely compare in his own mind his struggle for universal health care to the monumental undertaking of FDR on Social Security. In his mind, he will see this accomplishment as being placed in the same historical context as Social Security. If he does that, he will dismiss any and all counter arguments to universal health care. Anyone that brings him data that shows his plan to be flawed will be dismissed if not removed. Any and all opponents will be demonized in a scorched earth policy that will have only the goal of the realization of universal health care in mind. Rather than approach the situation with fact, logic and reason, Barack Obama will have his mind made up and pre determined and then will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goal.



2) The mortgage crisis



Barack Obama believes that in part the answer to our mortgage crisis is to bring a new regulatory framework to mortgages or another words to create more regulations. I would furiously disagree and point to the one hundred plus documents signed at closing as proof that regulations have already failed the mortgage industry. Of course, if arrogance became fatal to Barack Obama, he would dismiss someone like me as merely being part of the problem. In fact, he would bring in so called experts that would merely re inforce his already preconceived notion of what happened and how to solve it. Furthermore, he would dismiss all talk of too many regulations as nonsense. In his mind, what we have had is the wrong kind of regulations, and he would bring the right kind to the market.



3) Iran, Syria, and all foreign relations



If Barack Obama became fatally arrogant, then he would again find foreign policy advisors that simply reinforced his notion that meeting with our enemies is a good idea. That said, that would only be the beginning of how his arrogance would be fatal. He would believe each and every meeting went well. He would fail to recognize if a face to face meeting was a disaster, much like JFK thankfully did recognize that Kruschev handed him his lunch in 1961. If the policy began to be counter productive, he would fail to recognize it. He would refuse to change. Instead of looking to change tact, he would likely double down on face to face meetings.



4) Iraq, Afghanistan and the GWOT



We have already seen what the potential destruction of Obama's arrogance can be. He has already dismissed the recommendation of General David Petraeus that a timetable for withdrawal is a bad idea. A fatally arrogant President dismisses even the generals on the ground in favor of his own policies. Furthermore, this arrogance would be combined with an utter lack of military experience. We could have a President Obama demanding a flawed military strategy over the advice of commanders and generals even though it has no basis in military strategy. Obama wants to add troops to Afghanistan but hasn't defined their mission. Imagine a fatally arrogant Obama not only authorizing more troops but then micromanaging the war from D.C. If Obama is fatally arrogant, then he will disregard the deterioration of Iraq if he pulls troops out too quickly. He will be convinced that the theater is irrelevant and disregard if the situation turns south. If his strategy in Afghanistan doesn't work he will disregard the facts and continue with the same failed policy.

5) General

In general, if Barack Obama is arrogant in a fatally flawed way, he will surround himself with so called yes men rather than folks that give him their opinion and challenge him. Of course, this is a short trip from the way in which most administrations function. Most administrations pick advisors that hold a similar philosophy and so to know the difference one would have to be part of the administration. If Barack Obama is fatally flawed in arrogance he will surround himself in a bubble in which all criticism and counter thoughts will be dismissed.

The biggest problem comes if ever he realizes that he isn't what he has built himself up to be. If a fatally arrogant President's administration ever really goes south then they really become dangerous. He'll attempt anything bold and daring, in his own mind, in a desperate attempt to save his own legacy. His legacy will begin to consume him and he will forget that the good of the country is the most important thing. The worse his Presidency becomes the more desperate he will become. The damage if his administration were ever viewed very negatively would be unspeakable.

For all these reasons and more it is vital to know if Barack Obama is arrogant in a fatally flawed manner. That is one trait we must keep away from the White House.