[Mb-civic] Flip-flop

Mon Jul 26 21:38:02 PDT 2004

Read to the middle of this column for the flip-flop part (I made it bold because 
it's the best part by far....)

George W. Bush: Presidential or Pathological?

By Arianna Huffington

July 13, 2004

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.

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.

Other than that, George Bush is the picture of psychological health.

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.”

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.

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. 

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.

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.” 

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: 

“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.

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. 

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!

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.”

You don’t need to be a psychiatrist to heartily second that opinion. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Find this article at:
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=722

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