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OBAMA ON THE COUCH
by Justin Frank, MD From FREE PRESS Since President Obama became a public figure, we have struggled to define him. Yet no has been able to answer the fundamental question: Who is Barack Obama? Obama on the Couch gets to the core of the man some see as the embodiment of hope for the future and others as no better than a third-world terrorist. Dr. Frank connects the psychological dots between
Dr. Frank makes links that help the reader reframe recent history in revealing new ways and shed light on this complicated man. Many of his decisions, from his handling of health care reform to his selection of advisors, reflect the lasting effects of his earliest experiences. His behavior in office is at times motivated by inner forces and defenses that he himself doesn’t recognize. Obama’s divided self, as seen in the contexts of his mixed-race heritage and broken home, play out in his need to promote unity at every turn, seemingly blind to irreconcilable differences within our nation. Obama on the Couch reveals the unconscious forces that drive his presidency. This book also examines unconscious forces that drive his avid supporters and passionate detractors. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR OBAMA ON THE COUCH
Wonder why President Obama can’t fight back? The answer is in this compelling book. Dr. Frank unravels the tragic flaw within a tightly woven man whose unexpressed rage toward both his parents has neutered him as a leader. Aware of his own capacity for destructiveness, he cannot allow himself to retaliate against opponents bent on crushing his Presidency. Pass on this book to his advisers. It could lift him out of depression and free him to expose the fractures threatening our country and heal our national split before it is too late. Dr. Justin Frank’s brilliant use of psychoanalytic categories to unravel the mystery and enigma of President Barack Obama should be read by every American. For years we have puzzled over how the president elected on a promise of “change we can believe in” could have become the Democrat who capitulated to most Republicans. Obama on the Couch demonstrates why this pattern is for our president a necessary response to his own inner needs. Nuanced and measured, Dr. Frank’s book is a major contribution to contemporary political analysis.”
- Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor-in-chief Tikkun An analyst who can coin phrases like “obsessive bipartisan disorder” to describe our President is a pleasure to read. But what makes “Obama on the Couch” an important book is Justin Frank’s ability to dive deep into the President’s eloquent writing about his childhood and emerge with fresh and major insights — unacknowledged rage for the mother Obama claims to idolize, unexpressed despair at his abandonment by his stepfather as well as his father. Obama on the Couch is nothing less than a public service.
Brilliant. Justin Frank has opened a powerful line of inquiry into the
PRAISE FOR OBAMA ON THE COUCH
‘Obama on the Couch’ is a fascinating read. Frank approaches this virtual analysis meticulously, closely reading both of Obama’s memoirs, combing through speeches and journalistic accounts of Cabinet meetings. The president’s puzzling insistence on seeking compromise even with political opponents who have sworn resistance, Frank writes in a tongue-in-cheek diagnosis, is evidence of “obsessive bipartisan disorder.” And his chapter on how Obama’s critics see him – the psychology, or even pathology, behind some of their complaints – is masterful.
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