- That is the highly provocative question being asked in
"Bush on the Couch," a new book in which psychoanalyst and George
Washington University professor Dr. Justin Frank uses the president's public
pronouncements and behavior, along with biographical data, to craft a comprehensive
psychological profile of Bush 43.
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- It's not a pretty picture, but it goes a long way in
explaining how exactly our country got itself into the mess we are in:
an intractable war, the loss of allies and international goodwill, a half-trillion-dollar
deficit.
-
- Poking around in the presidential psyche, Frank uncovers
a man suffering from megalomania, paranoia, a false sense of omnipotence,
an inability to manage his emotions, a lifelong need to defy authority,
an unresolved love-hate relationship with his father, and the repercussions
of a history of untreated alcohol abuse.
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- Other than that, George Bush is the picture of psychological
health.
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- One of the more compelling sections of the book is Frank's
dissection of what he calls Bush's "almost pathological aversion to
owning up to his infractions" - a mindset common to individuals Freud
termed "the Exceptions," those who feel "entitled to live
outside the limitations that apply to ordinary people."
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- Limitations like, for instance, not driving while drunk.
Or the limitation of having to report for required Air National Guard duty.
Or the limitation of having to adhere to international law.
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- And it doesn't help one outgrow this sense of entitlement
when Daddy and his pals are always there to rescue you when you get in
trouble - whether it's keeping you out of Vietnam by bumping you to the
top of the National Guard waiting list or bailing you out of lousy business
deals with cushy seats on corporate boards or making sure the votes in
Florida (just another limitation) aren't properly counted.
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- But you don't make it as far as W. has without some psychological
defenses of your own - especially when it comes to insulating yourself
against your own fears and insecurities.
-
- Raised in a family steeped in privilege and secrecy,
and prone to the intense aversion to introspection and denial of responsibility
that are the hallmarks of a so-called dry drunk - one who has kicked the
bottle without dealing with the root causes of the addiction - Bush has
become a master of the psychological jiu-jitsu known as Freudian Projection.
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- For those of you who bailed on Psych 101, Freudian Projection
is, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
a defense mechanism in which "the individual deals with emotional
conflict or internal or external stressors by falsely attributing to another
his or her own unacceptable feelings, impulses or thoughts."
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- In layman's terms, it's the soot-stained pot calling
the kettle "black."
-
- On the 2004 campaign trail, it's the pathologically inconsistent
Bush attempting to portray John Kerry as a two-faced flip-flopper.
-
- It's become the Bush-Cheney campaign mantra. GOP talking
points 1 through 100. The president's go-to laugh and applause line:
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- "Senator Kerry has been in Washington long enough
to take both sides on just about every issue," chided Bush at a spring
fundraiser. "My opponent clearly has strong beliefs, they just don't
last very long." Ba-da-bum! (Incidentally, how is this consistent
with Bush's other contention, that Kerry is a rock-ribbed liberal?)
-
- Or as Dick "Not Peaches and Cream" Cheney ominously
put it at a Republican fundraiser: "These are not times for leaders
who shift with the political winds, saying one thing one day and another
the next."
-
- I couldn't f---ing agree more, Mr. Cheney. But it's your
man George W. who can't seem to pick a position and stick to it. He's reversed
course more times than Capt. Kirk battling Khan in the midst of the Mutara
Nebula. Gone back on his word more times than Tony Blundetto. Flip-flopped
more frequently than a blind gymnast with an inner-ear infection.
-
- The list of Bush major policy U-turns is as audacious
as it is long. Among the whiplash-inducing lowlights:
-
- In September 2001, Bush said capturing bin Laden was
"our number one priority." By March 2002, he was claiming, "I
don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not
that important."
-
- In October 2001, he was dead-set against the need for
a Department of Homeland Security. Seven months later, he thought it was
a great idea.
-
- In May 2002, he opposed the creation of the 9/11 Commission.
Four months later, he supported it.
-
- During the 2000 campaign, he said that gay marriage was
a states' rights issue: "The states can do what they want to do."
During the 2004 campaign, he called for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
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- Dizzy yet? No? OK:
-
- Bush supported CO2 caps, then opposed them. He opposed
trade tariffs, then he didn't. Then he did again. He was against nation
building, then he was OK with it. We'd found WMD, then we hadn't. Saddam
was linked to Osama, then he wasn't. Then he was sorta. Chalabi was in,
then he was out. Way out.
-
- In fact, Bush's entire Iraq misadventure has been one
big costly, deadly flip-flop:
-
- We didn't need more troops, then we did. We didn't need
more money, then we did. Preemption was a great idea - on to Syria, Iran
and North Korea! Then it wasn't - hello, diplomacy! Baathists were the
bad guys, then Baathists were our buds. We didn't need the U.N., then we
did.
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- And all this from a man who, once upon a time, made "credibility"
a key to his appeal.
-
- Now, God knows, I have no problem with changing your
mind - so long as you admit that you have and can explain why. But Bush
steadfastly - almost comically - refuses to admit that there's been a change,
even when the entire world can plainly see otherwise. He's got his story
and he's sticking to it. But that darn Kerry, he keeps shifting his positions!
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- At the end of his analysis, Dr. Frank offers the following
prescription: "Having seen the depth and range of President Bush's
psychological flaws our sole treatment option - for his benefit and for
ours - is to remove President Bush from office."
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- You don't need to be a psychiatrist to heartily second
that opinion.
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- © 2004 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON. www.fanaticsandfools.org
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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