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Field Guide to the Hypomanic: Hothead of State (Rahm Emanuel)
PsychologyToday.com ^ | July, 2009 | John Gartner

Posted on 08/16/2009 8:11:09 PM PDT by khnyny

As Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel is arguably the second most powerful man in America. It's a job tailor-made for the unflappable—but that's not a description anyone would ever apply to Emanuel, not even when he was a political rookie raising money for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. If donors didn't agree to quintuple their normal contributions, Emanuel scolded them for their stinginess and hung up the phone. Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, who has known Emanuel for decades, contends the method displayed a level of chutzpah that "redefined the term." And it worked. Emanuel broke all fund-raising records.

Two things are absolutely clear about Rahm Emanuel. He is effective and he is extreme.

Emanuel says f*ck more frequently than "if, and, or but," insists political scientist Larry Sabato. Obama himself regularly jokes about Emanuel's profanity: "For Rahm, every day is a swearing-in ceremony." These days, Emanuel is making deliberate efforts to tone himself down. "I'm not yelling at people; I'm not jumping on tables [anymore]," he told Mark Leibovich of The New York Times.

Still, Emanuel displays many characteristics of a hypomanic temperament. This mildly manic disposition—which is not a mental illness—comes with assets that could propel someone to the top of his field: immense energy, drive, confidence, creativity, and infectious enthusiasm. I have found through interviews and historical accounts that hypomania has animated many leaders, from Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Carnegie to Emanuel's former boss Bill Clinton.

But it also carries a cluster of liabilities: overconfidence, irritability, and especially impulsivity that often pitches the hypomanic into hostility. Drives are heightened and impulse control is weakened, making the hypomanic brain like a Porsche with no brakes. In keeping with his hypomanic temperament, Emanuel doesn't need much sleep and he can't stay still.

(Excerpt) Read more at psychologytoday.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: emanuel; illinois; meanballerina; obama; rahm; rahmemanuel; tutoots
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To: khnyny
There have been a flurry of articles recently in the national media.

That takes a good PR firm to pull off - I wonder why he wants his name out there? I suspect Obama wants to dump him and he knows it.

21 posted on 08/16/2009 9:10:22 PM PDT by GOPJ ("Fishy rumors posters" Check 'em out:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2311664/posts)
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To: khnyny
"He's like a shark that always has to keep moving or he dies..."

"There is no rest," says my God, "for the wicked."--Isaiah 48:22

22 posted on 08/16/2009 9:10:56 PM PDT by avenir
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To: cornelis
Some love darkness more than light.

Then there's that...

23 posted on 08/16/2009 9:11:00 PM PDT by GOPJ ("Fishy rumors posters" Check 'em out:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2311664/posts)
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To: PGR88
No, he is the kind of sorry pathetic doe-eyed boy that the boys of ultimate honor defended because they understood that it was their duty. Afterwards, he made fun of them and reported them to the principal or the teacher behind their backs. He always thought he was better and smarter than everyone else. He was just meaner and without conscience or moral character. He should be food for pigs in the Deadwood tradition...and that would probably be too good for him.
24 posted on 08/16/2009 9:11:30 PM PDT by madinmadtown (Nuclear...better to mispronounce it, than not understand it.)
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To: GOPJ

I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone hire a PR firm to make sure that the media publishes unflattering articles about them?

My feeling is this is definitely coming from elsewhere. Kind of a 100th monkey syndrome kind of thing.

Unless, of course, Rahm is such an egomaniac that he just wants to see his name in print as often as possible - there’s always that.:)


25 posted on 08/16/2009 9:24:25 PM PDT by khnyny ("Giving government money and power is like giving car keys and whiskey to a teenage boy")
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To: GOPJ

some say “hypomaniac”, I say coke freak.


26 posted on 08/16/2009 9:27:52 PM PDT by bioqubit
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To: khnyny

Remember when Donald Duck would go on a !@#$%^&*! rampage using fowl language (couldn’t resist the pun) and said things like (expletive deleted). Rahm on a tear reminds me of that.


27 posted on 08/16/2009 9:29:02 PM PDT by Ev Reeman
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To: khnyny

The fact that someone hasn’t bitch slapped this punk just goes to show you how many cowards reside on capital hill


28 posted on 08/16/2009 9:34:34 PM PDT by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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To: mortal19440

Rahm: "I can hardly wait to get outta these tights and crack some heads. Where's my steak knife (inside joke)?"

29 posted on 08/16/2009 9:46:15 PM PDT by jonrick46 (The Obama Administration is a blueprint for Fabian Socialism.)
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To: khnyny

he was always such a ‘nice jewish boy’...


30 posted on 08/16/2009 9:51:45 PM PDT by Outlaw Woman (Hey............How's that Hope and Change Thingy workin' for ya?)
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To: Ev Reeman
"Remember when Donald Duck would go on a !@#$%^&*! rampage using fowl language (couldn’t resist the pun) and said things like (expletive deleted). Rahm on a tear reminds me of that."

Wouldn't you love to see a video of Rahm pitching a fit, and a voiceover of Donald Duck in one of his tantrums? LOLOL!

31 posted on 08/16/2009 9:54:14 PM PDT by redhead (If it's worth fighting for, it's worth dying for. Check the Halfbaked Sourdough)
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To: khnyny
"Kind of a 100th monkey syndrome kind of thing." - Prophetic
32 posted on 08/16/2009 9:58:11 PM PDT by Errant (`)
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To: Ev Reeman


"Don't f this up"(Rahm to Tony Blair)
33 posted on 08/16/2009 10:02:50 PM PDT by khnyny ("Giving government money and power is like giving car keys and whiskey to a teenage boy")
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To: khnyny

An extremely VILE man.


34 posted on 08/16/2009 10:05:30 PM PDT by shield (A wise man's heart is at his RIGHT hand;but a fool's heart at his LEFT. Ecc 10:2)
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To: avenir
An excellent post.

A condign warning to Rhamm and Exekiel; "And they that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon them."

These clowns are going to catch a lot of their own medecine come a day. Won't taste too good either.

35 posted on 08/16/2009 10:30:03 PM PDT by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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To: khnyny

mark


36 posted on 08/16/2009 11:04:14 PM PDT by bitt (Hey Nanzi Pelosi, ...we are not a MOB, we are the Brooks BrotherHood.)
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To: khnyny

I don’t need a shrink to tell me these guys are a bunch of scumbags.


37 posted on 08/17/2009 3:19:08 AM PDT by snuffy smiff (the only good commie is a dead commie)
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To: khnyny
. If donors didn't agree to quintuple their normal contributions, Emanuel scolded them for their stinginess and hung up the phone.

Two things are absolutely clear about Rahm Emanuel. He is effective and he is extreme.

When dealing with the world of corrupt Chicago politics, such tactics are very effective.

When dealing with the American people, such tactics are very ineffective.


38 posted on 08/17/2009 3:25:30 AM PDT by Polybius
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To: bioqubit

Not to play Grammar Police, but “hypo” means under, and “hyper” means over.

Rahm Emmanuel is “hypermanic”, or is a “hypermaniac”.

Either way, the ranting Donald Duck is an accurate description of the POTUS’ advisor.


39 posted on 08/17/2009 4:11:53 AM PDT by elcid1970 ("O Muslim! My bullets are dipped in pig grease!")
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To: avenir; Jimmy Valentine
Chapter X of Hayek's famous little book is, Why the Worst Get on Top.

He says, "The unscrupulous and uninhibited are likely to be more successful in a society tending toward totalitarianism. The (soon to be) totalitarian dictator would soon have to choose between disregard of ordinary morals and failure. They (socialists) set themselves a task which only the ruthless ready to disregard the barriers of accepted morality can execute."

Human nature is a constant. Hayek also predicts the rise of private civilian armies, inversion of the accepted meaning of common words, regulations made outside the normal legislative process, a demand to "get things done" immediately, the need to silence opponents, and ultimately when central planning fails, a rapid descent into open tyranny.

40 posted on 08/17/2009 4:53:42 AM PDT by Jacquerie (Free expression of religion is one of our Unalienable, Natural Rights)
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