The Psychological Assessment of Political Leadershimself from a critical strategy meeting... and disappeared. Later,
his aides found him hunched over a pay phone in the lobby calling
his mother" (Renshon 1996a).
Clearly, Clinton was very emotionally connected to his mother.
But what of Virginia Kelley's relationship to her son? What kind of
mother was she to young Bill? How did their relationship appear to
affect him? In writing her autobiographical memoir, Mrs. Kelley
observed the crisis-ridden quality of her life.
I've wondered why there are so many hills. Is there something
about our family, some built-in need to live life as if it were a
StairMaster? Hillary says her family... didn't have crises every
four minutes. What then explains our turbulence? (1994a,
276)
One cannot help but note the similarity of Mrs. Kelley's sense of
her own life as crisis driven to that of her son, whose private and
especially public life and presidency have also been substantially dri-
ven by crises. While the specific dynamics that help to explain and
account for their crises-driven lives differ, the overall dynamic
process seems remarkably parallel.
Her character had a direct effect on his, because her character
helped to create the circumstances of his childhood and adolescence
that played an important role in shaping his own character. What
were Mrs. Kelley's ideals and values? What things were important to
her? What guided her as she made the decisions that would shape
her life and the lives of her sons? She gives many clues in her autobi-
ography, but they can be organized around the twin themes of being
noticed (narcissism) and putting pleasure before responsibility (the
boundary problem). Charmed by appearance, especially in the men
to whom she was drawn, she ignored behaviors that ultimately
would prove destructive for her and her son. This was the model of
relationships she provided for Bill Clinton.Virginia Kelley in Psychological Perspective
Virginia Kelley has been characterized as "an American original"
(Oakley 1993, 14). Of herself she says, "I'm a character, a cut up, a
kook" and notes that "Even before Bill became a public official, I had
what might be called a 'public persona'" (1994a, 16, 157). Perhaps