Having worked for several politicians, I thought this quote by disgraced former Connecticut Governor John Rowland (in a recent Washington Post profile) best describes the how and why these elected leaders become such raving egomaniacs.

 

"From the time you arrive, the job of everybody in the office is about making you look good and feel good, and after a while you believe that is the way your life is supposed to be -- people doing things for you. The sun is rising with you -- that's what everybody believes. You end up believing it, too. The people in your office and the lobbyists, they're all saying the same thing: how great you are, and how hard you work for the state, and how much everybody appreciates you, and how you deserve to be rewarded. It starts there."