Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
I doubt that Kim Jong-Il, the North Korean leader, has much need for a public relations adviser, but his decision to launch a bunch of missiles on the eve of American Independence Day was surely a master move of attention grabbing.
Though it did confuse the message of the month, just when the world was getting used to the kindler, gentler image of a country that dismantled an entire English brewery to make "The Pride of Pyongyang," reputed to be a very decent beer. Then there was the barbecue diplomacy between North Korea and the US via a New Jersey restaurateur. All that sacrificed for the sake of some pyrotechnics.
But then we're used to the cognac-swilling dictator (Hennessey's best customer) - who provides junior high school-aged girls to his high-level visitors - acting a bit outrageously. "He believes his own propaganda," said former CIA psychologist Dr. Jerold Post, in a 2003 CNN interview. Scary stuff indeed.
Not nearly as scary, perhaps, as the portrait of Sarah Palin provided by Todd Purdum in the current Vanity Fair, many of whose Alaskan interviewees cited the above-mentioned "narcissistic personality disorder" in connection with their soon-to-be-former governor. Purdum's article provides excellent background reading for anyone still harboring any illusions about Gov. Palin being the incarnation of the wholesome home town girl.
Yesterday Palin launched her own pre-Fourth fireworks: a rambling "Hi Alaska" paean to herself and her accomplishments delivered in high school diction, which was actually a "Bye, Alaska" to announce her resignation. She, who might want to become the first woman President of the United States, assured her listeners that "America is now, more than ever, looking North to the Future." Presumably when they look North they'll see Sarah Palin, and yearn for the times when we last had a Republican President who had trouble with coherent speech.
How appropriate, in her July 4th double bill with Kim Jong-Il, that she closed her farewell address with a quote from General Douglas MacArthur, the "American Caesar" who suffered from another type of narcissistic personality disorder: hubris. Palin's MacArthur inspiration: "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction." In fact, MacArthur's headstrong disregard for his civilian superiors (i.e., President Truman) made a Korean War turn into a war with China. He was finally dismissed for near insubordination.
MacArthur's replacement in Korea, General Mathew Ridgeway's words about his predecessor...
...the hunger for praise that led him on some occasions to claim or accept credit for deeds he had not performed, or to disclaim responsibility for mistakes that were clearly his own; the love of the limelight that continually prompted him to pose before the public... the headstrong quality...that sometimes led him to persist in a cause in defiance of all logic; [and] a faith in his own judgment that created an aura of infallibility...
... could be applied to Ms. Palin as she begins to stake out ground deserted by more grown up and stable Republicans.
But unlike old soldier MacArthur, don't expect Sarah Palin to "fade away."
(Fireworks photo from OSHA)