The Psychological Assessment of Political LeadersIt is likely that many Americans remained unconvinced by Clinton's
response, believing that he "protested too much" and tried to shift
responsibility from himself to others.
To sum up, Clinton's high IIwe ratio suggests that he is more
interested in being president than in leading a crusade that will
accomplish specific goals. His passivity score (lime) indicates that he
assumes the victim's role when aggressively challenged about uneth-
ical behavior. His negatives score is rather high, suggesting a need to
deny unpleasant realities about his behavior. The president's moder-
ate qualifiers and retractors scores indicate that he is reasonably spon-
taneous and comfortable with reporters; he can make decisions and
reconsider them without becoming paralyzed. There is no evidence
of impulsivity, a trait that is usually accompanied by a high retrac-
tors score. Clinton shows little need to control interview situations.
A moderate explainers score suggests that Clinton is more cate-
gorical than didactic when presenting his positions on issues. He
states rather than explains his point of view. This trait, combined
with a high adverbial intensifiers score, is characteristic of a
preacher's style of communication. Clinton's frequent use of expres-
sions of feeling, personal references, and adverbial intensifiers estab-
lishes him as one of the more expressive presidents. His infrequent
use of direct references suggests a tendency to avoid confrontation.
Clinton's lack of verbal creativity suggests a possible dependence on
others for innovative ideas.
Motivations and Mediation of Self-Other Relationships
David G. Winter
For assessing Clinton's power, achievement, and affiliation motiva-
tions, there is an enormous amount of material of every kind avail-
able: speeches, press conference statements and responses, and infor-
mal remarks. In fact, every "official" word that Bill Clinton has
spoken or written since his 1993 inauguration is recorded in the
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents series (published by the
Office of the Federal Register), later to appear in the Public Papers of
the Presidents volumes. Most presidential speeches are now also avail-
able on the World Wide Web. The researcher's problem is to select
from this abundance an appropriate and manageable amount of
material to score.