DELUSIONS

He may be crazy, but he is also guilty.

So dumb, he shouldn't be allowed to drive a bus.

As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise...surprise...surprise", Ahmadinejad wins in Iran. Chalk one up for the bad guys.

The U.N. imposes sanctions on North Korea, but will not authorize military action to enforce them. Chalk another up for the bad guys.

What do all of these stories have in common? They illustrate the power of self-delusion. Clark Rockefeller deluded himself into believing that he was no longer Christian Karl Gerhartstreiter, anonymous, untalented, illegal immigrant. Instead, he was suave, sophisticated, wealthy Clark Rockefeller (and before that he was a doctor, an actor, and who know what else). The bus driver, working an overtime shift that paid $40 an hour, didn't think anyone would watch the video from the surveillance camera in his bus that caught him stopping his bus, borrowing a passenger's cell phone, and making the passengers wait while he made a phone call. He threw his good job away to make a phone call.

More serious are those delusions that happen on a grander scale, like the one that says a dictatorial regime will allow truly free elections, or pay attention to sanctions without the use of force or the credible threat of force. The self-delusions of a bus driver or con man hurt only a few. The delusions of dictators and the diplomats who think they can be reasoned with are the ones that get so many people killed.