The Psychological Assessment of Political Leadersthat money from large campaign contributors played in elections
and policy-making.
Yet, a news account presented documentary evidence (in the form
of letters) that McCain had twice written to demand that a regula-
tory agency that he oversaw as chairman of an important Senate com-
mittee make a ruling on a proposal that would benefit a major cam-
paign contributor. Moreover, the letters were sent shortly after he
and his aides met with the contributors and had received more than
twenty thousand dollars from them (Labaton 2ocoa). A subsequent
story noted that McCain had written many such letters for campaign
contributors in his role as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee.
As the headline delicately put it, "Issue for McCain Is Matching
Record with His Rhetoric" (Labaton 2OOob).
The public statements and overt behavior of leaders may actually
reflect what they really think and how they are really attempting to
shape or respond to circumstances. This point is often lost sight of in
discussions of methodology and critiques of case studies. The key
reason for making use of these data elements is to uncover and assem-
ble a pattern of behaviors with which to construct a theoretically use-
ful framework for explanation and analysis.
One question that often comes up is whether the psychologically
minded researcher has conducted an interview with the president or
candidate being analyzed. Behind that question is a very naive
assumption, namely, that an interview produces better data than
that which is available in the public record. Contrary to some views,
a psychologically trained interviewer does not possess the emotional
equivalent of X-ray vision. The psychologically trained interviewer
will not be able to cut through the sometimes decacle-long practiced
answers and evasions to get to the psychological essence of the per-
son. This is an unwarranted and foolish assumption. People rarely
have a single psychological essence, and, if they do, no known type of
psychological training can discover it in a brief interview, especially
with an unwilling informant.
Usually, a psychologically minded political analyst will want to
know something about the family circumstances within which a
leader grew up and came of age. It is a fact of modern life that lead-
ers running for high office attract the attention of reporters and writ-