I’m not one to jump on the psychoanalysis bandwagon when discussing those whose political preferences I disagree with. I’ve long thought that it’s possible to look at the same data series and draw different causal conclusions, each of which comes with its own remedy. So I’ve tried to avoid the whole “President Narcissus” thing, psychoanalyizing at a distance always being perilous.

But I’m growing just the teensiest bit concerned.

First, there are the enablers:

Americans are flagrantly ill-informed…and, for those watching Fox News, misinformed.

It is very difficult to have a democracy without citizens. It is impossible to be a citizen if you don’t make an effort to understand the most basic activities of your government. It is very difficult to thrive in an increasingly competitive world if you’re a nation of dodos.

That’s Time magazine’s Joe Klein, whipped into a petulant, spittle-flecked frenzy by the great, unwashed masses who don’t understand what a gift it is that they have been given in this president that they chose. Who apparently yearns, in this country that we have inherited, to get rid of the whole notion of democracy, as difficult as it is.

Because we’re all dodos, apart from Klein, of course. And his president.

Then there is the enabled:

“I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president,” he told ABC’s “World News” anchor Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview today.

Because he – alone – is smarter than all the rest of us. He knows what’s best. And if what’s best for us makes him so unpopular that we decline to re-elect him, he’ll be just fine with that.  It would be better to enact policies so unpopular that the benefits of incumbency are abnegated.

We just don’t know what’s best for us. We’re dodos.

Strength of his convictions, and that, congrats. But then there’s this:

(Arkansas Representative Marion) Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs “off into that swamp” of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.

“I’ve been doing that with this White House, and they just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.”

Bill Clinton was the first two-term Democratic president since Harry Truman, a man so popular among the people despite his manifest personal deficiencies that, had he been eligible for a third term, he almost certainly would have won. President Obama is better than Bill Clinton though. Fortunately for us, we have him.

Talk about drinking your own bathwater.

If one man stands against you, he may be right or he may be wrong. If an increasing majority of the voting populace in a democracy stands against you, you either haven’t sold your product properly or you’re wrong.

Leadership often involves taking people where they otherwise wouldn’t want to go. It involves persuading them of the rightness of your cause, convincing them of the error of their ways. But the president has traveled the world to tell his tale. He’s been in constant campaign mode since he won the election. We’ve heard what it is that he’s selling. We’re not buying. We’re not interested.

It’s not you, Mr. President. It’s us. We’ve seen what it is you have to offer, and we don’t want to live in that country. No matter how wonderful you believe it could be. And here’s the deal breaker:

It’s our country. You’re an at-will employee.

It’s time to cite Cromwell’s Rule.

Back off.