Sigmund Would Understand

“Psychological projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. …

An example of this behavior might be blaming another for self-failure. The mind may avoid the discomfort of consciously admitting personal faults by keeping those feelings unconscious, and by redirecting libidinal satisfaction by attaching, or “projecting,” those same faults onto another person or object.”

That definition, courtesy of Sigmund Freud via Wikipedia, may explain the strange behavior of Barack Obama. His predilection for blaming others for his own failings is well known. George W. Bush being the longest running target of Obama’s denial of responsibility for almost everything that has gone wrong during his administration.  However, lately that proclivity has taken a new and more disturbing turn.

He has now begun to project his failings on Mitt Romney. How else can one explain his accusation that Romney suffers from Romnesia when even a cursory look at Obama’s endless speechifying reveals he is the one who has a serious problem maintaining a consistent position on almost everything (except taxing the rich).  Kimberley Strassel laid it all out with examples in a recent WSJ column.

Obama favored a single payer health care system and then denied having said so. He believed marriage was between a man and a woman and then he didn’t. He went about the world apologizing for America and, despite the very public record, denied having done so.  And Strassel’s list was a long way from inclusive.

But perhaps the most mindboggling of all his jousts with reality was the one in Cleveland Ohio a few days ago when he exhorted a crowd:

“There’s no more serious issue in a presidential campaign than trust.  Trust matters. You know what, Ohio, after all these years you now know me.  You know that I mean what I say and I say what I mean.”

Talk about chutzpah! The lies spun about Benghazi were unraveling as he spoke. Does he have such contempt for the electorate that he believes he can say anything and be believed? Or is he suffering from another personality disorder?  Megalomania, according to various definitions, is an old term for narcissistic personality disorder, a condition characterized by fantasies of omnipotence and an inflated sense of self-esteem.

As my father used to say in one of his Yogi Berra moments, ‘If the shoe fits, pinch it.”

Just don’t vote for it.