12. William Jefferson Clinton: Personality
Traits and Motivational Biases
The following analyses of William Jefferson Clinton focus succes-
sively on his general personality traits and his motivational biases.
The authors in each of the following sections apply their respective
methods of content analysis to construct a profile of the causal mech-
anisms associated with the processes of ego defense and the media-
tion of self-other relationships.
General Personality Traits and Ego Defense
Walter Weintraub
Our verbal analysis of Bill Clinton's general personality is based
upon 5,759 words gathered from answers to reporters' questions dur-
ing extemporaneous press conferences. Table 12.1 compares Clin-
ton's use of our categories with the speech habits of post—World War
II presidents. Clinton's use of the pronoun / is the highest and his use
of the pronoun we is the lowest among post—War II presidents. The
president presented himself not as the leader of a cause but rather as
a successful politician with a track record of getting things done.
Clinton's passivity score (lime ratio) was also the highest of
post—World War II presidents. As we shall see, Clinton's frequent
use of the pronoun me may be associated with his assuming the vic-
tim's role when attacked.
Clinton's moderate use of qualifiers and retractors indicates that he
is spontaneous during press conferences and comfortable with
reporters. He does not have a need to control interviews, which sug-
gests that the president is probably not controlling in his relation-
ships with others. Moderate qualifiers and retractors scores suggest
that Clinton can make decisions and reconsider when necessary. His303