As you can see, the topic is of great interest to me so I was very pleased to hear your take on this (e.g., students). It took me so long to write my wordy thing that I missed reading yours before I posted so I could have shortened mine - your psychiatrist source had a neat, concise and powerful way to to describe the illness that I’ll file away to refer to again later.
One thing I wanted to add (yikes - more of my writing! - I know, but the topic interests me and I dread what may come next!) was the idea of pettiness. Every now and then an MSN will point out a petty action by Obama and co., and the disobedient talking heads may even mention it. I believe that these petty acts show where Obama’s primary interests are invested. In other words - petty to us is primary to Obama. Small slaps at naughty journalists etc. are, in Obama’s world, the repelling of evil enemies threatening his very life (image of himself).
ransomenote: I, too, am familiar with the online writings of Dr. Sam Vaknin, and I would heartily recommend them to anyone wishing a more in-depth (yet popularized - i.e., for laymen) explanation (warning: he's written a LOT).
However, I would be more interested in the aetiology of the disorder. Also: In the apparent stronger manifestation of this disorder in old age.
Does anyone have any ideas at to what factors in Obama's upbringing are likely to have contributed to it? Of course, he OBVIOUSLY comes from a dysfunctional family - but another person under identical circumstances might still have turned out differently.
Regards,