Psychoanalytic Assessments of Character and Performancedevelopment and the ways in which they have become a part of, but
not synonymous with, adult behavior. In the absence of any real
capacity to meticulously trace events and their subjective meaning to
the person, the analysis of unconscious motivation is speculative.
Evidence for a Psychoanalytic Analysis of a Political LeaderAn analyst developing a psychologically framed biographical analysis
or profile of a president or candidate operates at three different levels.^1
First, he or she operates at the level of historical fact. What are the key
events? What evidence is there that the event(s) took place and as
described? Did Democratic candidate Al Gore really learn to plow
fields as a young boy? He did. Did Bill Clinton really grow up in the
harsh economic circumstances that his stories about an outhouse on
the family property suggest? He did not. Establishing the authentic-
ity of facts that are relevant to the analysis is critical.
Second, the analyst operates at the level of interpretation and
meaning. What does it mean that George W. Bush's father was pres-
ident or that both he and Al Gore come from families with genera-
tions of high-level public service behind them? What were the psy-
chological consequences of Bob Dole's severe war wounds? What are
we to make of Al Gore's bifurcated childhood growing up both in
rural Tennessee and at the posh Mayflower Hotel in Washington?
Third, the analyst operates at the level of theory. How shall we
understand and explain the facts that we find? Do we use, as many
have, the theory of the psychological dynamics of the adult children
of alcoholics to explain major elements of Bill Clinton's character?
Or, focusing on his mother's early and prolonged absence from her
young child to study nursing in New Orleans, would the theory of
attachment (and its darker side, abandonment) be more appropriate?
The first level of analysis is the foundation for the others. There-
fore, the analyst must sample a wide range of behavior across both
similar and different circumstances. What makes data more (or less)
useful for analysis? At the level of factual information, the analyst
relies on the density of information, the authority of the source(s), and
their accord with other known facts. Some, but by no means all, facts
about many candidates and presidents are easily ascertained and vali-
dated by the density of recollections of the person by family, friends,
and associates. Still, there are many pitfalls awaiting the unwary.