So Caribou Barbie is teasing us once again by acting all presidential campaign-y, leveraging that ol’ “lamestream media” to follow her every move and keep us in a state of perpetual political arousal.
It’s great entertainment. After all, she could actually win the GOP nomination, or – more likely - she could run on a divisive 3rd party ticket, just to spite her mainstream political enemies. At a minimum, she can crank up the money-making machine and perpetuate her brand for another few years. Then again, she could self destruct, which many people consider the most entertaining outcome of all. Trouble is, when people self destruct, there’s usually some collateral damage – families, employees, business associates – all the camp followers who believed in the dream.
The odds of self destruction are higher for folks who are already out on the ledge. Many have speculated that our Caribou Barbie displays some of the traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I’m no psychologist, so I looked up the Mayo Clinic’s definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and found the following:
Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by dramatic, emotional behavior, in the same category as antisocial and borderline personality disorders. Narcissistic personality disorder symptoms may include:
• Believing that you're better than others
• Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
• Exaggerating your achievements or talents
• Expecting constant praise and admiration
• Believing that you're special and acting accordingly
• Failing to recognize other people's emotions and feelings
• Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
• Taking advantage of others
• Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
• Being jealous of others
• Believing that others are jealous of you
• Trouble keeping healthy relationships
• Setting unrealistic goals
• Being easily hurt and rejected
• Having a fragile self-esteem
• Appearing as tough-minded or unemotional
Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence or strong self-esteem, it's not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence and self-esteem into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal. In contrast, people who have healthy confidence and self-esteem don't value themselves more than they value others.
I’ll leave it to you to connect the dots. These are hardly the attributes I’d want in someone in possession of the nuclear launch codes, but at least we’re in for reality-TV-worthy summer.