Nothing but Ego

The most revealing anecdote in Politico reporter Glenn Thrush's new book on the Obama campaign: The President refused to golf against John Boehner because he knew he would lose.

The report makes it sound like this is just another example of the President's fierce competitive streak. But c'mon, it's just pathetic. You're the leader of the free world, you have an opposition leader from another party, it might advance your political objectives to golf with him -- heck, especially if you lose! -- and you're so pitifully ego-driven you can't do that . . . and so desperate to win a golf game you have to manipulate a foursome in which you're playing on Boehner's team so you can win?! For real?

That's not a competitive streak; it's a sign of a nature that's simultaneously breathtakingly egotistical and remarkably fragile -- so fragile that any perceived moment of being "one-down" from anyone (even though you're the most powerful man on earth) can't be tolerated.

There's something disconcerting about that. It's hardly the sign of a healthy psyche.