JUSTIN FRANK MD

Observing the many Barack Obamas on Sigmund Freud’s Birthday

justy — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:11:23 +0000

Sigmund Freud wrote that every time he learned something new he lost a patient. Every time I learn something new about Obama I lose a president.

He really is Rashomon (a 1950 Japanese movie proposing that all truth is subjective. Director Kurosawa depicts four witnesses to the same rape and murder who see four completely different events). When he first ran for president he was happy to be viewed as ambiguous – he was our uniting president, our articulate president, our constitutional lawyer president, our thoughtful president; he was their threat to capitalism, their foreign-born Muslim ‘other’, their dangerous man-in-charge who was going to take away their guns. But both camps shared the same big truth: Barack Obama was America’s first black President.

Now he is the transparency president who orders secret assassinations and drone strikes. He is the green president who may approve the Keystone pipeline.

Starting today – Freud’s birthday – I will be blogging regularly about current events seen through my psychological lens to define which Obama is speaking, since there are already many to choose from. It is also imperative to see whether his comments are or are not linked to action.

Putting Bibi and Barack on the Couch

justy — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:55:17 +0000

The Jewish Daily Forward quotes me in a great article on why there’s little hope of a better relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama. I am quoted in two paragraphs in the middle of the article.

http://bit.ly/WmUDt5

Huffington Post Article – ‘Wanting to Know… and Not’

justy — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:24:57 +0000

Just out on Huffington Post is my latest article focusing on the character of each candidate and who is best suited to fulfill the needs of the American people.

http://huff.to/Soi4OA

justy — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:03:53 +0000

Video from Nighline aired after Debate II

Why Change is Dangerous to Republicans

justy — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:14:42 +0000

This is my latest post to HuffingtonPost (8/28) and concerns how depression accompanies change and the incapacity to tolerate it causes eruptions of hate.

http://huff.to/OxhPC2

Slate – Why Do So Many Politicians Have Daddy Issues?

justy — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:36:53 +0000

I was quoted in a recent article published on Slate.com regarding how political leaders often have absent, alcoholic, neglectful fathers, or fathers who died too young. Click the link below to view the full article.

http://slate.me/PWZfV6

Article on Salon – What’s wrong with Mitt Romney?

justy — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:29:05 +0000

On Salon.com is my latest article focusing on Mitt Romney and his behavior approaching the upcoming elections. Click the link below to read how his disastrous British visit has to raise questions about his capacity for the diplomacy required to be president.

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/27/whats_wrong_with_romney/

Final Time, Inc. column

justy — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:32:25 +0000

My last Time column was June 14, I’m sorry to say. That particular column was seen as too inflammatory and “slanted” because I explored why Mitt Romney is so comfortable telling lies. One reason, I wrote, was that he used his Mormon faith to help him believe that he wasn’t in fact lying. This idea was seen by some readers as a bigoted attack on Mormonism, and Time bowed to pressure from various right-wing groups. So, despite the column being part of Time “Ideas” – a section explicitly for controversial ideas and thoughts – I was told I had to stop. There was no explicit pressure on Time from the Romney “people”, however.

It has been a great pleasure to work on these columns and to work with my truly fine editor there, Ruth Konigsberg, who tried to stand up to the powers that be. The institution, it seems, is not too different from many others, including the US Congress where at least 30 Democrats are so frightened of the NRA that they will vote to censure Attorney General Holder. This is where we live today.

I appreciate the comments some of you sent over these months, and I’ll be writing more in the near future. Perhaps one day I can even return to Time itself. Who knows?

New post on Time.com

justy — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:08:04 +0000

My latest article is now out on Time.com about Mitt Romney’s faith-based certainty translating to truth even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Read here:

http://ideas.time.com/2012/06/13/the-root-of-mitt-romneys-comfort-with-lying/#ixzz1xh4tkI29

Latest in Time, Inc. – The Tea Party and fear

justy — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:18:11 +0000

Just posted on Time.com is my latest article, ‘The Tea Party’s Fear of Contamination’. This week I am focusing on Republicans, specifically the Tea Party, and how recent primaries highlight a way of thinking that equates compromise with surrender.

http://ideas.time.com/2012/05/30/the-tea-partys-fear-of-contamination/