The Guardian: So George, how do you feel about your mom and dad?

[Bowfinger]

Here is an interesting/amusing/infuriating article (depending on your agenda) analyzing GWB's psychology. Not terribly flattering, as you might expect.

From the Guardian, So George, how do you feel about your mom and dad?

Psychologist Oliver James analyses the behaviour of the American president

Tuesday September 2, 2003
The Guardian

As the alcoholic George Bush approached his 40th birthday in 1986, he had achieved nothing he could call his own. He was all too aware that none of his educational and professional accomplishments would have occured without his father. He felt so low that he did not care if he lived or died. Taking a friend out for a flight in a Cessna aeroplane, it only became apparent he had not flown one before when they nearly crashed on take-off. Narrowly avoiding stalling a few times, they crash-landed and the friend breathed a sigh of relief - only for Bush to rev up the engine and take off again.

Not long afterwards, staring at his vomit-spattered face in the mirror, this dangerously self-destructive man fell to his knees and implored God to help him and became a teetotalling, fundamentalist Christian. David Frum, his speechwriter, described the change: "Sigmund Freud imported the Latin pronoun id to describe the impulsive, carnal, unruly elements of the human personality. [In his youth] Bush's id seems to have been every bit as powerful and destructive as Clinton's id. But sometime in Bush's middle years, his id was captured, shackled and manacled, and locked away."

One of the jailers was his father. His grandfather, uncles and many cousins attended both his secondary school, Andover, and his university, Yale, but the longest shadow was cast by his father's exceptional careers there.

[ ... ]

However, it is certain that however much Bush may sometimes seem like a buffoon, he is also powered by massive, suppressed anger towards anyone who challenges the extreme, fanatical beliefs shared by him and a significant slice of his citizens - in surveys, half of them also agree with the statement "the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word".

Bush's deep hatred, as well as love, for both his parents explains how he became a reckless rebel with a death wish. He hated his father for putting his whole life in the shade and for emotionally blackmailing him. He hated his mother for physically and mentally badgering him to fulfil her wishes. But the hatred also explains his radical transformation into an authoritarian fundamentalist. By totally identifying with an extreme version of their strict, religion-fuelled beliefs, he jailed his rebellious self. From now on, his unconscious hatred for them was channelled into a fanatical moral crusade to rid the world of evil.

As Frum put it: "Id-control is the basis of Bush's presidency but Bush is a man of fierce anger." That anger now rules the world.

Rather than getting bent out of shape, I suggest everyone enjoy the article for what it is.

 

[BOBDN]

Thanks for the link Bowfinger!

I'm taking your advice and enjoying it for what it is.

The truth.

 

[glenn1]

Rather than getting bent out of shape, I suggest everyone enjoy the article for what it is.

Considering it's extremely doubtful that the author has ever met the subject(, since Clinton was mentioned also) to reach a supportable profile/diagnosis, i'd say the article falls into the fiction category. Amusing and not necessarily without elements of truth, but more gossip than science.

 

[DealMonkey]

"...staring at his vomit-spattered face in the mirror, this dangerously self-destructive man fell to his knees and implored God to help him..."

This is how I picture him waking up every day since March 19th, 2003.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: glenn1

Rather than getting bent out of shape, I suggest everyone enjoy the article for what it is.

Considering it's extremely doubtful that the author has ever met the subject(, since Clinton was mentioned also) to reach a supportable profile/diagnosis, i'd say the article falls into the fiction category. Amusing and not necessarily without elements of truth, but more gossip than science.

I agree ... with you and BOBDN.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
"...staring at his vomit-spattered face in the mirror, this dangerously self-destructive man fell to his knees and implored God to help him..."

This is how I picture him waking up every day since March 19th, 2003.

LOL! Literally.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Actually you can make limited assumptions about internal conflicts based on Bush's public personal history and behavior as a public servant *cough*. Clearly, this analysis is full of holes but it's probably more accurate than the typical DOD report on Iraq's WMD.

 

[etech]

Add bowfinger to the crappers of this forum.

Damn.

 

[BOBDN]

Originally posted by: etech
Add bowfinger to the crappers of this forum.

Damn.

Don't be too upset etech.

We know the truth is hard to take sometimes.

Just jail your rebellious self and you too can survive.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: BOBDN

Originally posted by: etech
Add bowfinger to the crappers of this forum.

Damn.

Don't be too upset etech.

We know the truth is hard to take sometimes.

Just jail your rebellious self and you too can survive.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: etech
Add bowfinger to the crappers of this forum.

Damn.

Once a day unless I'm lacking fiber. Did you have a point? Something specific that concerns you?

 

[PatboyX]

it may be true that he never met his subjects but...i see a lot of that on AT. not necessarily in this forum, but there are a whole lot of people in OT that analyze people based on a few posts. they might benefit from such an article...

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
"...staring at his vomit-spattered face in the mirror, this dangerously self-destructive man fell to his knees and implored God to help him..."

This is how I picture him waking up every day since March 19th, 2003.

Bump for one of the funniest things I've read in ages.

 

[Moonbeam]

I find the article to be shallow, mean spirited and most especially, completely devoid of psychological insight. The person who wrote it should be looking at himself. For those reasons I also don't find it to be very good as a piece of humor.