Patti Davis - Father issues still haunt George W. Bush.

[Poiuyt]

Oedipus at War
Father issues still haunt George W. Bush.

Web-exclusive commentary
By Patti Davis
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 6:00 p.m. CT Nov 9, 2006

Nov. 9, 2006 - A few years ago, during my father’s memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., I saw a telling moment between the two George Bushes. Bush 41, the former president, had just finished his eulogy, a poignant, touching tribute that hit all the right notes—soft humor, sadness and a clear affection for the man he was there to remember. The current President Bush followed him, and though father and son passed each other so close their shoulders almost brushed, George W. Bush passed his father as if he were invisible, keeping his eyes straight ahead and walking briskly to his destination. To me, it looked like there was some trepidation in the eyes of Bush the Elder, as if he knew his son would slight him.

snip -

Which is more than we can say for the president. I’m not suggesting George W. Bush reach for a brooch and blind himself, but I am saying that life is always inviting us to be more humble. Whether we accept the invitation is a matter of choice. What we saw in Bush’s post-election statement Wednesday was an angry man reading from a prepared speech that was supposed to sound conciliatory but didn’t at all because his voice bristled with resentment. No humility there, no reflection or introspection on the dissatisfaction of a majority of Americans. And, the irony of ironies, with the firing of Donald Rumsfeld, W. finds himself working closely with many of his father’s old advisors.

The term "oedipal" has fluttered around the younger Bush’s presidency from the beginning. Much has been made of the psychology behind the scene of the competitive son marching onto the battlefield his father had vacated, determined to win a war Dad walked away from. When the son raised his fist (symbolically) and cried out, “Mission accomplished!” it wasn’t just about the statue of Saddam being dismantled, ripped to ruins in the center of Baghdad. It was about (again symbolically) conquering his father.

more -

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15642593/site/newsweek

[eleny]

1. K&R

Thanks!

[Lindacooks]

2. Yep. I'm sick to death of infantile men like chimpy using the

United States Armed Forces to fight their own little battles they're too chicken to fight themselves.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

11. Well said . . .

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Indeed!

:applause:

[VeggieTart]

3. She's absolutely right. n/t

[bliss_eternal]

4. That family seems a psychotherapy dream come true...

seem like a lot of issues there. I'm guessing the little suggested by this article, barely scratches the surface of the family dynamics that plague and haunt shrub. He's a twisted dude, to put it mildly.

[The Count]

13. That early Simpsons episode when they were all zapping each other...

[bliss_eternal]

23. LOL! I remember that one!

:rofl:

[Demit]

5. She had the same reaction to Bush's presser Wednesday as I did

I heard and read people saying they thought it wasn't bad, they thought he did okay, but I saw a man who could barely contain his anger and didn't care who knew it. He practically ripped those pages as he turned them. His tone WAS bristling with resentment as he read the speech he was given, each sentence with the same harsh singsong intonation. He fairly seethed.

[frogcycle]

9. is this on utube?

[cornermouse]

6. The more I see of Junior, the more sorry I feel for Senior.

Barbara did a lousy job.

[bliss_eternal]

8. Two people had a hand in raising him.

I don't like Barbara either, but I don't think it's fair to hold her solely accountable for how he turned out. :)

[Ms. Toad]

12. You beat me to it. n/t

[bliss_eternal]

24. LOL!

;) :hi:

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. As a mother...

thank you!

[bliss_eternal]

25. Pacifist Patriot...

:hi:

[cornermouse]

22. Well, I could be wrong, but it seems to me that

given the nature of his various employments, Senior was probably away from home a lot when Junior was growing up. And by the way, I'm a mother too. I still say Barbara did a lousy job.

[bliss_eternal]

26. You're entitled to your opinion, cornermouse.

:) If I may ask for clarification...

Are you saying that a father being away from home (for work, etc.), lets him off the hook for parenting his children?

[cornermouse]

31. My dad was a long haul truck driver for many years; most of my

childhood. Its not being let off the hook as much as it is not being on the hook throughout the week. When my dad was there, he was the final word on things. When he wasn't my mother was very active in pursuing her agenda to personally raise us to be good human beings. I have to wonder how concerned and deeply involved Barbara was in that process with Junior.

[bliss_eternal]

33. hi cornermouse...

I'm curious if you believe it's fair to compare your family to theirs? I ask because based on what you've shared, it doesn't sound like you have a lot in common with the bush crime family.;)

It sounds like you are using the example of your family to measure gw's family, and his mother in particular.

Though bush sr. wasn't a trucker, that doesn't mean he wasn't away on business trips. But can we reasonably assume that their life experience would be anything like yours or ours (someone on DU)?

Are you factoring into the equation the wealth of the bush family?

Wealthy families tend to have options middle class families do not. For example they have nannies, housekeepers, cooks, etc. Having such options affords them a different lifestyle and their children tend to spend a great bulk of their time with the nannies, housekeeprs, etc. When they reach a certain age, they are sometimes sent to private boarding schools.

Is it not possible that choices were made, given their wealth--by BOTH parents that contributed to the asshole we see before us today? Why is it always a mother's fault when a kid grows up to become a rotten, greedy, illiterate bastard?

I find it interesting (and telling) that his father used his money to bail junior out of his mistakes, time and time again. That says to me that throughout his life, his father was in the habit of throwing money at jr. and his problems. This was the role he played as a parent. Let's not teach him problem solving or critical thinking skills, let's just pay for his fuck ups so they'll go away. :wtf:

What does that teach a kid about life and responsibility? What does it teach an adult? Because bush sr. was still throwing money at gw jr's problems when he was all grown up. :eyes:

As a progressive, I like to believe that BOTH parents are ultimately responsible for the care, teaching and rearing of their children, not just the mother because society dictates that.

Let me be clear--I don't like barbara bush at all. Not one bit. But despite my personal feelings about the woman, I'm not going to say her sons are all her fault.

You are of entitled to believe that women are solely responsible for how their kids turn out. That's your right, and I don't want to take that from you. I just respectfully disagree. I hope maybe you'll ask yourself why you think that way? Is it because of your family background, and what you saw growing up? Is it based on what seemed to work for your family and the families around you? Or is it based on what society tells us about child rearing? Maybe you just believe that's what's appropriate and you've never questioned that belief or it's validity?

You don't have to answer, (of couse);) --I just hope you'll consider what I've asked.

Take care, and thank you for taking the time to respond to my question! I do sincerely appreciate it. :hi:

[cornermouse]

34. Just how is using nannies and other personnel to take care of your

children responsible? Why are you trying so hard to let Barbara escape her responsibility? It looks like Senior was seldom there physically. Under the circumstances, Barbara should have stepped up to the plate. Its obvious to me that she didn't. And why are you working so hard to twist my words?

[bliss_eternal]

35. (sigh)

I didn't twist your words. I'm very sorry that you feel that I did.

I'm not letting anyone off the hook. I'm merely saying it is unfair to place ALL the responsibility on one person--her or him. I'm also saying as a progressive and as a woman, I am not comfortable with the stance that states that women are ultimately responsible for child rearing.

cornermouse, you seem to be making a lot of assumptions. None of us knows these people personally. I tossed out some ideas to consider, but ultimatey I have no idea if they had nannies. We weren't in that house. We don't know how often he or she were present in the home. You seem intent "to assume" he wasn't around much and had no time for the kids so that makes it her fault. :shrug:

I'm sorry that this upsets you but I feel that is presumptious and unfair.

Why is it HER fault more so than his? Why does it have to be one's fault ove the other in your eyes?

[partylessinOhio]

7. I never liked Patti Davis until now.

:yourock:

[bananas]

14. What didn't you like about her?

She always seemed so nice and friendly...
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/playboy_celebrity_centerfold_patti_davis/dvd.php


(I'm only posting this because I've talked to so many conservatives who worshipped Reagan for his "family values" and didn't believe me when I told them his daughter was a Playboy centerfold).

[Raine]

32. Patty's always been a good liberal

she tried hard to bring her father around, I've always liked her.

[pretzel4gore]

10. junyer himself should realize his failure was the result of mediawhoring

media....the pigmedia never acted as a brake on any of bush's schemes, never subjected bush's crazy ideas to calm retrospection - unlike clinton, who got served by the media 24/7 year after year....too bad junyer wouldn't use his photographic memory and ability to inspire some of the most brutish men in the world to GET the pigmedia, who are totally to blame for bush's problems (given that bush was probably psycho already, abetting his admin. didn't help!)
bush cost us trillions of dollars; who cares if he and his asshole daddy don't kiss each other's ass

[Poiuyt]

18. Georgie's psychopathic tendencies started long before he ever got to office

The media were only enablers. I haven't read it, but the book, "Bush on the Couch" looks to be very good:

From Publishers Weekly
Bush Administration policies are not only a "great catastrophe" but the products of a disturbed mind, according to this provocative blend of psychological case-study and partisan polemic. Psychoanalyst Frank sifts through family memoirs, the writings of critics like Al Franken and David Corn and the public record of Bush’s personal idiosyncrasies for clues to the President’s character, interpreting the evidence in the rigidly Freudian framework of child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein. He finds that Bush, psychically scarred by an absentee father and a cold, authoritarian mother, has developed a galloping case of megalomania, characterized by a Manichaean worldview, delusions of persecution and omnipotence and an "anal/sadistic" indifference to others’ pain, with removal from office the only "treatment option." The author’s exegesis of Bush’s personality traits-the drinking problem, the bellicose rhetoric, the verbal flailings and misstatements of fact, the religiosity and exercise routines, the hints of dyslexia and hyperactivity, the youthful cruelty to animals and schoolmates, the smirk-paints an intriguing, if exaggerated and contemptuous, portrait of a possibly troubled public figure. But Frank’s attempts to translate psychoanalysis into political analysis are unconvincing. Indeed, if Bush’s reneging on campaign promises is a form of clinical "sadism," and his budget deficits an "unconscious attack on his own parents," then Karl Rove, the Cabinet, and both houses of Congress belong in group therapy with him.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.amazon.com/Bush-Couch-Inside-Mind-President/dp/0060736704/sr=8-2/qid=1163202580/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-3663871-0669400?ie=UTF8&s=books

[pretzel4gore]

21. bush was a rightwing 'might=right' boor even in college!

and he never suffered from his own excesses (i read 'fortunate son' by jim hatfield) which usually causes megalomaniacs to doubt themselves, a bit. but bush truly seems freakish in that his goddam psyche just runs like that mechanical rabbit we see on tv.....

[nicknameless]

16. Father AND mother issues. He was raised by sociopaths. (n/t)

[meow2u3]

19. Freud would make a killing analyzing Bush

If Sigmund Freud were alive and practicing psychoanalysis today, he'd write an entire library of the work he performed analyzing this pathetic excuse for a president, with his textbook Oediups complex.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

20. And if there is anybody who knows about father-related angst

it is Patti Davis.

[David Zephyr]

27. K&R.

The lady can write.

[tlsmith1963]

28. About Reagan's Funeral

Did anyone else notice thar Nancy Reagan wouldn't even sit by GWB at her husband's funeral? Her seat was far from his, even though they obviously had it set up for her to sit next to him. I think she moved it away. I have heard that she doesn't like him, mostly because of the stem-cell issue.

[badgerpup]

29. And Bush considers himself the political 'heir' to Ray-guns...

he really worshipped the guy. :eyes:
Just MHO...the only reason he hasn't tried to convince the world that he isn't Reagan's son genetically as well as politically is that both Nancy and Barbara would have his ass in pieces so fast he wouldn't know what hit him.
:nuke:
Nancy for him DARING to suggest that her Ronnie would even LOOK at another woman (OK, female humanoid)... and Bar for suggesting that she might have snuck around on Poppy.

Poppy, on the other hand might be relieved..."Well, maybe Bar slipped one in on me...but at least that sorry POS didn't come from MY bloodline!"
:rofl:

[VeggieTart]

38. Nobody would have believed it

There is great physical resemblance between the GWHB and GWB.

[UTUSN]

30. Takes one to know one n/t

[FernBell]

36. k&r

[mitchum]

37. Yet his lush of a mother is the reason he suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

trust me, I'm a professional in the area. All of the conditions, physical characteristics, and behaviors are present.

[bliss_eternal]

39. Wow...Are you serious?!

:hi:mitchum!

How do you know she drank when she was preggers with him? Does Babs drink? :shrug:

Sorry to ask--I'll be honest, as I've said above I dislike the woman a great deal, so I don't know much about her.

Given his age, I guess it's not much of a stretch to think that may have happened. Ever watch an old Hollywood film with an "expecting woman" in it? These days it's shocking to see them drinking and smoking, but unfortunately in those days the dangers to an unborn child weren't as well-known. :(

[Zomby Woof]

40. I concur

I am not a professional in that area, but know many who are, and they have suggested the same based on their knowledge. I trust their judgment as well as yours.