Without diving too deep into the touchy-feely pool of psychology, we, as human beings, despite our various strivings, are all incomplete.
Our desires, our fears, our histories, our baggage, all that makes up who we are, conjoin to manufacture us as less than the ultimate–that being fully selfless and loving individuals.
But yes, some of us, have (if I may) evolved further than others. We are at least trying. Some never reach the point of awareness necessary for change. Others have tried but quit. Still others never reached far enough.
Through such a prism, I make this statement: George W. Bush is the most psychologically neediest President in my lifetime. He is destitute, completely barren of the qualities that comprise mental healthiness. Even more so that Richard Nixon. Far, far greater than Bill Clinton.
George W. Bush psychologically needed to ascend to the position, power and authority of the Presidency for many reasons. The foremost was to tamp down (I use such a phrase because he has never faced them head on) the inner demons that have haunted and tortured him throughout his life. His palpable anger and resentment at being perceived as the ‘black sheep’ or the ‘less than’ by and within his own family has produced countless well-documented self-destructive episodes. Behavior that continues to this day and unfortunately effects people worldwide.
To achieve the professional level of his father was critical to George W. Bush.
But the problem became that even such an achievement turned out not to be enough.
No, George W. Bush psychologically still needed to prove that he was good enough to be a Bush, but be his ‘own’ man, both different from his standard bearer father AND one with greater accomplishments. His father and family name had rescued him from various legal and other behavioral scrapes during his young adulthood. George W. Bush needed successes of his own doing. Hence, the absolute rejection of consulting with his father about or prior to the invasion of Iraq or on other matters. Bush construes advice or direction from his father as indebtedness or weakness (not in the political sense but in the personal and familial), and we all are aware that the appearance of any moment of human frailty anytime, anywhere is anathema to George W. Bush.
In effect, this nation and the world have been held hostage because of an unresolved, interpersonal, family drama.
Richard Nixon’s pathetic hatred of the media, of the liberals, of the Jews and his incessant need to retaliate for presumed affronts has been well-documented. George W. Bush isn’t much different. His need to demonize those who fail to fall into lockstep with him, therefore his ‘enemies,’ is just as egregious. The imperialness of his thinking is displayed by the choices he offers: agree, be silent or be game for drawing and quartering.
The latest reports of George W. Bush lashing out at subordinates and the like for his current travails is just as telling. There can be no looking in the mirror for Bush because that is too painful and a ‘must’ to avoid. In his mind, his problems, just like for Nixon, are generated from the outside. Such destructive thinking ensures a spiral downward for Bush, a very dangerous element for this country and this world.
The advent of the politics of personal destruction certainly did not arrive with George W. Bush’s stepping foot into the White House. However, it has been the modus operandi of his entire life, even pre-Karl Rove. Bush engaged in ‘whispering campaigns’ against students who challenged his various logic-deficient statements in classes at Harvard Business School. He also denied the making of statements he had just verbalized in the classroom.This was highlighted in the news prior to Bush’s re-election in 2004. Bush’s obvious mental unhealthiness was evident back then.
And who else but a fellow scoundrel would twine his political fortune (therefore his personal) with someone such as Karl Rove, known for the most vile of political campaigning? Bush and Rove completed each other. In Rove’s eyes, Bush was the frontman who could be tweaked, packaged and portrayed. Alternately, Bush saw Rove as the ‘acceptable handler’–someone outside of his family orbit who could and would sweat the details yet relish staying out of Bush’s limelight. Both share equal values systems, best described as ‘whatever it takes.’
Call this Bush-Rove ‘marriage’ a mutual shaking of hands with the devil, by two so-called Christians. This pact made in hell would thrive by the building of a fortress of secrecy, an atmosphere of fear via retribution and no qualms at stating that any ‘rough’ political tactics were “just politics.” Pontius Pilate couldn’t have said it better.
A prime example that ranks among the lowest of the low regarding how far the Bush/Rove duo will sink in pursuit of what they deem is necessary is the unusual correlation of Bush Administration national terror alerts to the need to displace ‘bad’ front page news. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann recently covered this subject on his show. Even Tom Ridge, the former Director/Secretary of Homeland Security, recently distanced himself from a number of the alerts that were issued.
The announcements of defused terrorist plots, some of which were immediately pooh-poohed by individuals in the intelligence field, also goes right along with this.
Think about it: using domestic terror alerts and faux defusements–frightening the populace of this country–for political gain. This illustrates the depths to which Bush/Rove will sink to create a public patina of success.
Is this sociopathic? Psychopathic?
Looking at another element of George W. Bush, a number of his aides have stressed that he is not a political ‘singles hitter,’ that his preference is to swing for ‘home runs.’ Look at Bush’s foreign policy, his attempt to ‘save’ Social Security, his need to have U.N.-hater John Bolton in place at the United Nations, his nominees to the Supreme Court, etc.
Not that this is rare for those inhabitanting the presidency but this is legacy hustling–yet another reaction to having to be different from his father, to have a dramatic effect. Act boldly with broad brushstrokes and either leave it to others to pick up the broken pieces or, more likely, sweep them under the rug.
The presidency is a far too powerful and dangerous a position for someone so warped by his family dynamics–the White House too perilous a stage for dramatization of such psychological complexes.
But as part of a ‘cure’ for what ails him, George W. Bush must first admit he has a problem. That right there makes it a non-starter.
In the past, he has ‘gilded the lilly’ with such ‘admissions’ that he overindulged, to some degree, at times, occasionally, as a youth. The period of time for youthhood extends to age 40 in George W. Bush’s mind. There has been no admission of the other despicable behavior that accompanied his overindulgence nor of his actions unaccompanied by alcohol.
But curiously, it appears that intentionally or unintentionally, George W. Bush has adopted some of the 12 Steps so often linked with coming to terms with addiction. The second step “coming to believe that a Higher Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity” equates with Bush’s embrace of Christian evangelicalism. Whether he admitted to his powerlessness to alcohol and drugs and made a decison to turn his will and life over to the care of a Higher Power is seemingly known only to him. As with admitting to the Higher Power, to himself and to another human being the exact nature of his wrongs and being ready to have the Higher Power remove his defects of character.
It hasn’t been reported that Bush has attempted to make amends to those he has harmed or continues to take a personal inventory, promptly admitting to any further wrongdoing.
Barring such an honest attempt to peer into his own soul, a major concern for all to consider is, driven by his psychological maladies, what will George W. Bush attempt in the next three years in an effort to rescue his familial standing and worldwide posterity?
That is frightening
