America as Reflected in Its Leader
By Elisabeth Bumiller
... In the days since the[9/11] attacks, historians explain, Americans have projected on to Mr. Bush the qualities they desperately want him to have. That projection has worked, historians say, because Mr. Bush has managed to display those qualities — strength, compassion, a mastery of a complex war on many fronts. It is significant that the attacks on Sept. 11, on two symbols of American financial and military might, might also have hit the White House, or so those terrified staffers who evacuated it believed. But when the White House was spared, Americans seemed to turn even more toward it and the president as symbols of hope and calm and security. The man had merged with the office. ...
Psychoanalysts say that there is nothing surprising about projecting qualities on to those in positions of leadership, and that it fulfills a basic need. "We always project qualities onto our presidents," said Peter Wolson, a Beverly Hills psychoanalyst and the past president of the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies. "The public has a need for an idealized hero. The public wants the president to succeed, even though there may be envy and lots of other conflicted feelings. There's a wish that the president will be a strong, powerful father figure."
[Full text: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/06/weekinreview/06BUMI.html]
Cark
_________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.