Former MTV host Kennedy claims that President Obama has mental health problems.
Now working as a commentator for the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Channel, Kennedy (Lisa Kennedy Montgomery) was a high-profile MTV VJ (video jockey) back in the day when “Music Television,” as the initials originally stood for, still actually showed music videos.
A libertarian with a degree in philosophy, Kennedy has no apparent medical training and has been employed in the media for her entire career.
On the Fox show Outnumbered yesterday, Kennedy and the other panelists were discussing President Obama’s seeming detachment from and apathy towards his job. Both Republicans and Democrats have criticized the president for being far more focused on playing golf and attending fundraisers with one-percenters than coming to grips with an ongoing series of domestic and international crises. Obama received a lot of criticism across the ideological spectrum, for example, for hitting the links within a few minutes of delivering a brief speech about the James Foley beheading .
Outnumbered features a rotating ensemble of four female personalities and one male who discuss the headlines of the day.
In this context, the Outnumbered panel was discussing a report from Fox that U.S. intelligence officials warned Obama about the threat from ISIS — which he originally dismissed as junior varsity — more than a year ago .
That’s when Kennedy chimed in with her presidential diagnosis:
It’s not just that he doesn’t care. I think he’s got mental problems. And I think they are clearly undiagnosed. I think the man is so detached from a very important reality. I truly believe this. If you look at his eyes… this is a man who has totally given up. I’m not a psychiatrist. I’m not a psychologist. I cannot diagnose the man but I can tell you I have seen people who are unwell. He’s got the same look…”
The president is due to address the nation tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern to describe what steps he will take to combat the ISIS threat .
This afternoon, in the Outnumbered Overtime segment (which is streamed over the Internet after the show), Kennedy seemed to double-down on her analysis of the president’s mental health:
Yesterday I said that I think the president may have some mental issues. I say that with compassion; I really do…. If you look at his energy levels and his physical expression, the way he speaks, the way he holds himself — the way his face looks, and you compare that to six years ago when he was vibrant, alive, energized, excited — probably exhausted but felt like he was on a mission … this is his ultimate function … and now he looks like a guy who is detached, deflated. He’s got low energy. He says the opposite things oftentimes. And I don’t think these are calculated statements. I think he let’s the truth slip out, and it betrays what he is really feeling …”
Later in the discussion, Kennedy added that “I think this is a person that might have a personality disorder… I think the guy is depressed, I think he is over his job … depression is a form of mental illness…”
Do you think Kennedy is making unfair and/or uninformed allegations in claiming that President Obama has mental problems?
[image credit: Gage Skidmore ]
