The Psychological Assessment of Political LeadersRobert Dole in the New Republic and the New Yorker. His later
appointment and conduct as a top personal aide to President Clinton
cast some doubt on his objectivity and independence during the
campaign.
It is important as well to know more about who the candidate or
leader selects to represent or advocate his interests. For example, it is
useful to know that Al Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile,
was fired from her role in the 1988 Dukakis campaign for spreading
rumors about then President Bush's extramarital affairs. Knowing
this information helps in uncovering what appears to be a pattern of
harsh rhetoric and questionable judgment. This pattern in turn
raises questions about the judgment and strategy of the candidate
who selected her. It is also instructive, once the analyst uncovers such
a pattern and it becomes a public issue (Mitchell 2000), to see what
the candidate does in response.^4
In short, there is no substitute for immersion in the facts of circum-
stances and relationships when gathering and evaluating the informa-
tion that forms the basis of psychoanalytically formed analysis.
Anecdotal Evidence
Biography and other forms of history, like the insider political histo-
ries noted previously, often rely on the accumulation of narrative
incidents. The person in question may tell of the incident; a friend or
someone who was present at the time may do so; or a person may
even report what others say they have seen or heard. The weight of
these accumulated narrative stories can often be used to usefully con-
tribute to a psychologically framed portrait or analysis.
Such materials have played an important but controversial role in
the psychological analysis of presidents and their presidencies. Some
critics object that such narratives are merely anecdotal. The implica-
tion of the "anecdotal" label is that such data are inherently suspect.
Psychoanalytically oriented analysts who make use of anecdotal case
material must, like their statistical data—oriented counterparts,
address the issue of the quality of the data. There are essentially four
areas of concern raised by the use of such material: validity, degree of
representation, consequence, and meaning.
An anecdote is a story put forward to support a characterization.
The first question that must be addressed is whether the story is true.