Is the current leader of (your country) a sociopath? When was your last non-sociopath leader?

I consider that the current leaders of both the UK and the US are sociopaths. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for being a political leader, by the way. It may even be that the best leaders are sociopaths. Certainly they’re the most likely to get elected.

So I will answer this for the UK in my opinion: David Cameron is a sociopath. Gordon Brown probably wasn’t, but he hardly counts as a leader, so I’ll also mention that I think Tony Blair was a sociopath, while John Major definitely wasn’t and Margaret Thatcher almost certainly wasn’t [although her religious beliefs probably made act nastily on occasion].

Here also are my opinions on the US: Obama is a sociopath. George W Bush was so stupid I can’t tell but I would say that Jeb Bush was almost certainly a sociopath. Bill Clinton was a sociopath. George H Bush was likely a sociopath. Regan might have been but it’s pretty darn unlikely. Jimmy Carter was definitely not a sociopath.

Are you currently being led by a sociopath? Have you been in recent past?

Jeb Bush was never president. Governor of FL, but not president.

“Sociopath” does not mean “someone with whom I disagree politically”.

:smack: Are you sure? 20 years of political discourse gone to waste!

I’m well aware of both points. I mentioned Jeb cause he was George’s brother. And I think you’ll find I have a pretty much party-neutral selection from both the UK and US; in fact if anything I tend to have agreed more with the sociopaths!

I have based my sociopath mini-diagnoses upon the impressions I have of them as individuals. This is especially complicated by the way given that I was born very close to the end of '86 which means that some of the earlier politicians I’m going off videos/news reportes which may be unrepresentative.

Am currently reading a book called “The wisdom of psychopaths”. It’s a great read.

You do not understand what sociopath means.

Agreed, OP. I think one sort of has to be a sociopath to want the job.

Pretty sure Lincoln wasn’t a sociopath, though, although his wife was batshit crazy.

Richard Nixon!

Obama, Bush jr, Clinton, Bush sr, Reagan, Carter - Almost certainly not sociopaths. Romney also probably isn’t, but he comes across as a bit more unfeeling than the others on this list.

Nixon has a decent argument for being a sociopath. By most accounts, he was a ruthless, spiteful, and merciless son of a bitch.

By claiming Cameron is but Brown wasn’t you don’t make a particularly convincing case.

You list so many sociopaths, that’s why we obviously wonder what it takes for you to call someone a sociopath. And apparently you’re not just calling people a sociopath because of their liberal vs. conservative leanings, since you call Democrats and Republicans alike sociopaths.

I agree with you about GWB. But he was just a puppet front man for Cheney, was I’m sure was certainly a sociopath of major magnitude.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a sociopath. Ted Bundy was a sociopath. John Wayne Gacy was a sociopath. None of those people are even close to being sociopaths.

I think Nixon might have been a narcisisist.

OP: I think it would have been a really, really good idea if you had told us what you mean by “sociopath.” You had to have known that that would be a contentious and controversial thing to claim about just about any prominent person.

I am pretty certain that Obama, Bush, and Clinton are not sociopaths.

Nixon was the first that came to mind as a possibility, but even him I kind of doubt.

I think that the kind of personality that wants to be president is one that craves public approval. Isn’t that kind of at odds with psychopathy?

I don’t think that Obama is a sociopath. He has that superficial charm that is often associated with sociopaths, but he seems to be a relatively principled person. Nixon probably was. Johnson probably was, too (by most accounts, he was a first-rate asshole with a near-total lack of concern for anyone else’s feelings).

Bush Sr. probably wasn’t. W Bush probably wasn’t either. (Like him or not, he was always pretty transparent and easy to read.) Reagan probably wasn’t, although his acting experience undoubtably helped him win over people. Clinton I’m not sure about. I’m inclined to think that he has some sort of narcissistic personality disorder. He was smart enough to know how moronically foolish his sexual escapades were, both politically and family-wise, but he kept doing them until he was caught. JFK was in the same boat.

Also, I don’t think Romney is. He just has a somewhat reserved personality.

You know who else was a sociopath? Hitler.

I’m sure we’ve had several presidents who were sociopaths, but from what I know of the last several presidents, I don’t know of any reason to think they necessarily are. But I think a fair number of politicians are sociopaths or narcissists.

I’m curious why you would think Obama is a sociopath. Now Clinton, okay, there is SOME evidence of him being a hedonist which can be a sign of being a sociopath, but Obama? For all I know he could have a giant skeleton in his closet that he’s lucky has stayed hidden, but I haven’t heard of any evidence of him being a bad person.

Listing 3 serial killers who were sociopaths doesn’t mean a sociopath must necessarily be a serial killer.

Plenty of people are able to deliberately lie without any reservation, under any circumstance. Plenty of people casually disregard the people around them, and are psychologically incapable of understanding empathy.

At least a few of these people probably made it into the government.

Richard Nixon, certainly, and even more certainly, Lyndon Johnson.

Some sociopaths may reach the pinnacle of politics, but another name for sociopathy is ‘anti-social personality disorder’. Sociopaths may be superficially charming, but they usually can’t maintain the kind of long term reciprocal relationships necessary to rise to the peaks in politics. If Bill Clinton was a sociopath, he wouldn’t have spent his time after his election devoted to lifting people out of poverty and disease via his foundation. George HW Bush wouldn’t join him to raise money for concerns like Haiti or Katrina. Politics is all about meaningful long term social relationships, something sociopaths have serious problems with.

Also if Obama, Bush, etc were sociopaths they wouldn’t be devoted fathers. Sociopaths view their kids with the same indifference they feel for total strangers. To me that is one of the hallmarks of a true sociopath (aside from a lack of either fear or empathy), a lack of any meaningful emotions for their offspring. I heard a story about a sociopathic mother, her boyfriend kept pestering her for sex so she told him her young (like 4 or 5) year old daughter was in her room and to go have sex with her instead. She then went to sleep. That is sociopathic behavior.

Had you said ‘narcissist’, then I would agree that a lot of politicians can be narcissists (John Edwards comes to mind). Narcissists can be lacking in empathy, but they aren’t sociopaths.