Should Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's weekly on-air outbursts against the press be countered with further disclosures of what's wrong with the country's supposed chief executive?

Definitely not. Instead, we should all sympathise with his plight. Compassion is what he needs. And there is no better way to treat an easily provoked prime minister than to offer empathy. Nobody should envy him. Nobody in his right mind would want to be in a position of not being trusted within his own party and not respected by the most politically alert community in the whole population. Who would want to be a prime minister who gets a public dressing down from his own party's spokesman? In other words, if you are irritated with the PM, that means you really don't appreciate the plight in which he has placed himself.

Samak devoted a good part of his weekly programme on Sunday to his own "trials and tribulations" as a first-time prime minister. The country's pressing economic and political problems can wait. What could be more frustrating than being told by his close aides that once he is premier, he can't talk the way he wants any more?He even has some serious complaints against Google.

"Now, I can't say anything without Google spreading my words around the world. I have had to change my character. As prime minister, the word reason has to be deleted from my dictionary. I have to do what is not reasonable. Sometimes, the term sincerity can't be applied. The word sympathy can't be used either. Now, if that's the case, how can we deal socially with one another?" Samak intoned.

The premier said he wasn't naming any countries or ministries, but he felt that restrictions placed on his right to speak his mind on issues he feels strongly about have been too severe.

Of course, you may be tempted to argue that the way he has hit out at his local critics has been anything but restrained. But then, there is a psychological reason. All the exasperation he suffers because he can't hit out at counterparts or critics outside the country is being dumped onto home ground. And if you are on the receiving end, be proud that you are simply helping the premier relieve his frustrations.

The mental stress caused by the inability to speak the unspeakable is only a minor source of his frustration. The real anxieties for him are the "invisible and unmentionable" pressures he had to go through in the past two months since he took office.

For one thing, Samak can't stand being called a "nominee" day in, day out - despite the fact that he first used that term himself before the election. In other words, you can't really be a leader if you aren't taken seriously by your own party members, some of whom have no qualms publicly referring to Thaksin, the ex-premier, as "Mr Prime Minister" and calling the current official prime minister simply "Khun Samak" to his face - or by other less respectful names behind his back.

You can therefore understand why he got so mad when the press wouldn't be fooled into being used as a political tool when he let slip last week that "some people" were plotting a new coup against him. Samak perhaps thought that he would get lots of sympathy by revealing a dirty scheme against him. But then it all backfired. The press didn't take the bait and the premier chose to use his weekly show to lambast the press for misquoting and exaggerating his claim.

 "I never said the military was behind this new plot," an angry Samak said. But then, none of the headlines he waved in front of the TV screen said anything about military officers being behind the alleged plot to overthrow him either.

The most devastating thing for a reporter to do to Samak, it seems, is to quote him verbatim. No more, no less. It's certain to produce a self-destruct   response one way or the other. That's all the more reason why we should all show him more understanding, empathy, compassion and restraint. After all, he is also facing corruption charges and appealing a court verdict to jail him for defamation. His party is facing investigations that may lead to dissolution. And if that comes to pass, he may be banned from politics for five years. In brief, he has every reason to get upset when the press tries to pin him down on real issues.

Can't you see it's a huge sacrifice for a politician at 72, trying terribly hard to forget his own role in the "October" history, and attempting desperately to justify his conservatism, taking great pride when Singaporean President SR Nathan told him: "Khun Samak, you never changed your colours?"

The least the local press can do is to show sympathy for a leader so uncomfortable and frustrated in a job he has sought all his political life. The press should consider it "merit-making", Buddhist style, every time he attacks the media. After all, one of the main down-to-earth functions of the press in this country is to serve as a "spittoon" for failed politicians. We should feel proud and grateful at being spat at by a hugely troubled prime minister.