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President Obama and Self-deception

All of us are vulnerable to deceit and self-deception. Deception of parents by
children actually begins in the womb, when they manipulate the mother chemically
into providing greater investment than is in her best interests. It continues at six
months of age, developing rapidly to incorporate language, other individuals and
self-deception in service of deceit—the better to hide the ongoing deception. Bright
people may be more vulnerable to self-deception than dim ones. Certainly more
intelligent children (and adult monkeys) practice deception more often.

Presidents are no more immune to self-deception than the rest of us, but it is much
more visible to others and has potentially far greater effects. Barack Obama’s self-
deception, as is often the case, was the downside of a major virtue—the ability to
integrate opposing factions.

He gave me a scare when after winning the 2008 election he first emerged at night
with his gorgeous family between a set of Greek columns. My God, I thought, so his
victory is the culmination of 2000 years of Democracy. Instead of humility he
chooses self-exaltation. This is exactly the reverse of what works best. What will
come next?

What came next were two mistakes, one with immediate negative consequences and
the other requiring 8 years to ripen. The US was in a deep recession, second only to
the Great Depression, and a major reason why Obama won. Since 1932 it was well
known that the appropriate response was massive government spending directed at
the newly unemployed and, if possible, at repairing infrastructure. The unemployed
will spend the money at once, giving a multiplier effect. Likewise, infrastructure
was badly in need of repair and this costs less when unemployment is high, and also
increases employment, again with a multiplier effect.

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