All In The Family: Looking For An American President
By Robert Klein Engler (03/07/07)
CHICAGO--(7 March '07) If you ever tried to persuade someone that their politics is inadequate to the issues confronting the U. S. today, then you know there is often more to political convictions than what reason supports. There is an irrational element to political allegiances, and that irrational element is evident in the emerging campaign for President of the United States. In the equation of hearts and minds, the heart often has more value than the mind.
When someone holds to what is irrational, few arguments change their mind. In spite of all the campaign ads and sound bites, what we want, not what we reason, sometimes justifies what we do. The irrational is also in many ways childish, because our irrational desires are frequently shaped in childhood and in the context of our family. So it is that the coming campaign for President of the U. S. may be in many ways a campaign for what kind of family we imagine.
What if the front-runners in the presidential campaign were a projection of our unconscious family desires and conflicts? How would they present themselves? On a level of unconscious representation, perhaps we could understand Senator Barack Hussein Obama to be our big brother, Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be our good father, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to be our wise mother-in-law. Big brother, good father and wise mother-in-law all have a role to play as symbols in the family as we imagine it.
Do we need a big brother to support us against bullies, but at the same time represent something we can look up to? In many families, this is one of the symbolic roles a big brother plays. Furthermore, the big brother may also be the good son. Such is the case when Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr., recently at a gathering of Black Democrats meeting in Washington: "Barack Obama is our son and he deserves our support."
Instead of a brother, does the nation need a father who knows best, a father who tells us the truth about the hard times ahead and who will defend us from not only school bullies, but greater evils we cannot yet see? This could be the symbolic import of Mayor Rudy Guiliani, even if his real family life is not perfect. After a contested divorce, Guiliani's son Andrew still maintains that, "No matter what he's done, I love my father...I have problems with my father, but it doesn't mean he won't make a great president."
Are we children of a modern family, where traditional roles are blurred and an experienced mother-in-law could help out while both parents work, even though she may be at times shrill? We respect that mother-in-law who has recovered from the wound her husband gave her, and goes on to become strong and independent. The circuits of e-space already dream this. One Internet blogger writes: "Do not make the mistake of thinking America's Mother-in-Law could not be elected. She can and will be unless the Republicans have a strong candidate."
In the coming election, the Internet and the media will play an increasing role in deciding who will be a strong candidate and who will win the presidency. This is because the media is master of the unconscious. The media can easily offer an image of what we want and do it using the symbols of the family. Because of the media, Senator Obama could become a big brother in more ways than one.
Father Giuliani, mother-in-law Clinton or big brother Obama are given to us in sound bites and thirty second commercials. Few Americans will do the hard work of subjecting their politics to reason. Reason may change the minds of some independents, but most already have their hearts made up.
Perhaps some Americans desire none of these family symbols as President. For these Americans, their unconscious resonates with the need for a good friend or an uncle. This could be the role a man like Mitt Romney plays in winning the hearts of the electorate.
In spite of the unconscious desires that influence our politics, there are forces at work in reality that temper our illusions. All is not well in the neighborhood. China and Mexico are not good neighbors. The bully down the street, al-Queda, is acting up, and the fence around our lot is full of holes. Time will tell. We have over a year to see how the dysfunctional American family responds to these issues.
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