Hillary Clinton, Jill Abramson and the victim syndrome

Article here. Excerpt:

It is a rare person who, upon being fired or losing an election, cheerily concedes, “I sooo deserved that!” In more than 20 years of labor and employment practice dealing with hundreds of terminated employees, I observed only a few who acknowledged that they deserved to be fired. In theory, many people will say, “I’m my own worst critic,” but in reality, terminated employees overwhelmingly cite unfairness, discrimination, or supervisory error or incompetence when they are banished from the workplace. Failed candidates will claim “lack of money” (hmm, why don’t people want to give them money?), a “bad political climate,” negative ads and a slew of factors. Concession speeches rarely begin, “My opponent was a much better choice than I was.”

This is why there is a cottage industry in personal coaches, consultants and workplace psychologists. Whether it is David Gregory or Jill Abramson, the most ambitious, highly compensated, publicly recognized and obsessively focused on their career (a New York Times tattoo, really?) are often the least inclined toward self-reflection. What is obvious to their bosses, co-workers and audiences (e.g. lackluster interviewer, boss from hell) is impossible for some to accept. Critics may chuckle that an executive editor practiced in zealously investigating other peoples’ foibles is gobsmacked when the tables are turned, but it’s not just liberal journalists convinced that their employer is their “religion” who find it hard to come to terms with their public failings.

If your whole life has been singularly focused on attaining political power and you’ve sacrificed privacy, money, relationships and more to attain it while enduring nonstop scrutiny, it’s natural, upon facing intrusive questions and defeat, to assume that you are the victim of sexism or a vast conspiracy. It’s even more likely that you will fall into the victimization trap when so many cohorts are insisting that you are a victim. And yes, this brings us to Hillary Clinton.'