Governor Gogo Watch, cont'd

MANIFESTO

While I certainly don't understand why, Alaska's governor has injected herself into the news recently with what passes for cheesecake in America's Last Frontier and David Frum's contention that while he was in Alaska,

people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of "narcissistic personality disorder" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—"a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy"—and thought it fit her perfectly.

I was supervised for years by a guy who was certifiably narcissistic; it wasn't a pleasant experience. Yet, while Governor Gogo's narcissistic tendencies are certainly worthy of note, it seems to me that every politician must have a bit of the narcissistic bug within him or her. The desire to be in office, ipso facto, denotes such a condition. God knows a certain former New York City mayor reveled in his narcissism.

UPDATE — As it turns out, I didn't know the half of it.