Barack Obama's most fervent supporters have been forced to face the reality that he hasn't lived up to his idealistic campaign promises and concede that his performance as President has been marked by inconsistencies, frustrations, and disappointments. Why has there been such disconnect between Obama as candidate and as president? What drives his choices?
���� In Obama on the Couch, Dr. Justin Frank uses applied psychoanalysis to illuminate aspects of Obama's personality and behavior. Delving into the challenges of Obama's past, especially his turbulent childhood, Dr. Frank illuminates the unconscious thought processes that influence the President's behavior. He argues that some of Obama's decisions��rom his handling of health care reform to his selection and support of economic advisors��re motivated by inner forces and defenses that even the President himself doesn't fully recognize. In particular, he focuses on the ways that Obama has undermined his and his party's objectives by imposing his inner need for consensus on the opposition, which has often resulted in weak or ineffective policies.
���� Intriguing and provocative, Obama on the Couch sheds light on a complicated man��is destructive tendencies and impressive strengths��rawing connections between past and present that can reframe recent history in revealing new ways, which may even help anticipate Obama's future��nd the future of our nation, part of which is detailed in two provocative chapters about widely divergent public reactions to him, from the Tea Party to extreme liberals.
