Is Chris Christie's Narcissism Helping - or Hurting - Him?

I don't know which way you lean, but just about anyone can see the ass NJ Gov. Chris Christie is making of himself.  Don't know whether Bridgegate is true (I think it is), but some say his very narcissism -- though it's sure hurting him now -- is also what's made him a great leader, according to newswise.com.

And here's the upshot: "Though narcissists were more likely to attain leadership positions, there was no direct relationship between narcissism and leaders' success."

Researchers reviewed existing literature and aggregated past and current research to come up with the answer.

"Our findings are pretty clear that the answer to the question as to whether narcissism is good or bad is that it is neither. It's best in moderation," said Emily Grijalva of the University of Illinois, the lead author of the study, at newswise.com. "With too little, a leader can be viewed as insecure or hesitant, but if you're too high on narcissism, you can be exploitative or tyrannical."

The Web site quotes Peter Harms, assistant professor of management in UNL's College of Business Administration and a co-author of the study,as saying those with moderate levels of narcissism have achieved , "a nice balance between having sufficient levels of self-confidence, but do not manifest the negative, antisocial aspects of narcissism that involve putting others down to feel good about themselves."

Harms, who has conducted extensive research on maladaptive traits in the workplace, said finding that narcissism can be a double-edged sword is not new.

"(Narcissists) are usually very good in short-term situations when meeting people for the first time. But the impression they create quickly falls apart," he said. "You soon realize that they are nowhere as good or as smart as they say they are."

So what does this mean for Christie? His reputation as a bully aside, has it helped him to talk more about himself than the candidate he was nominating for president in 2012 (remember Mitt Romney?)?  Or to talk more about himself and his feelings - "humiliated" "embarrassed," and being a victim of a "stupid" staff - than the people he inconvenienced and put in danger, with the closing of two lanes of traffic across the GW bridge, causing massive traffic jams in September - in his two-hour alleged mea culpa?

Time will tell.  But I'm sorta hoping there's a smoking gun that he's shot himself down with, on the bridge.