The Moth in the White House

No one knows why moths circle a flame so intently that they will sacrifice themselves on its pillar of light. Learned scientists offer theories. Perhaps the flame is a proxy for the moon's navigational beacon. Maybe burning gasses emit an odor  mimicking female moth pheromones. While we can  guess that the underlying motivation may be beneficial in other circumstances, the immediate effect is obvious as moths repeatedly convert from a solid to a gas.

So it seems with Barack Obama. The President has an apparently insatiable need to fly to the flame, a driving level of egocentricity seldom seen outside clinics and textbooks. Just as he consumes attention, so is he consumed by it. Every event, every action is about or by him. In his universe, every crisis is an opportunity and criticism always personal. His physics are zero-sum. He can only move ahead by pushing his enablers behind (Rev. Wright, Grandma, Bill Ayers), only rise by denigrating others (Wall Street, doctors, insurors, oil companies, the British, Israelis, Karzai, the list seems endless). All the while, there can no presidential praise that doesn't reflect amply on himself.

In his aggrandizement, whether in his two books extolling his story, in the promises made in his campaigns, the speeches supporting ObamaCare,or the putdowns in the press room, he has oversold his virtues, neglected entirely his vices and been deaf, blind and mute to the contributions and concerns of others.

He has positioned voters for the most intense episode of buyers' remorse since the disillusionment with LBJ two generations ago.

As even leftist commentators now remark on his supposed coolness, his ability to remain aloof, his inability to relate, and begin to grasp that it really is all about him, we should be prepared to pay the price for electing as president an actor for whom the opening applause was the entire play; a matinee idol for whom performing is only something to endure until the next opportunity for audience adulation.

Mr. Obama gives no indication of appreciating the role, the business, the responsibilities of Chief Executive, the ability and need to organize, motivate and manage an administration of government. He revels instead in the trappings and honoraria of the position, the moments for pontification, the opportunities for dicta.

Mr. Obama suffers from an addictive personality. Today, he enjoys the flame, I think too much, while ignoring the heat.

Whether cigarettes, cocaine or applause, his addictions need to be controlled.