We've seen signs of Bush coming unwrapped in public appearances such as his recent singing at the Gridiron Club [1]. More about his made up lyrics later. According to Maureen Dowd [2] in "more candid off-the-record ones (comments) — he has seemed goofily happy in recent weeks, prickly no more but strangely liberated and ebullient."
Dowd even invokes the name of the father of psychoanalysis, speculating that perhaps he's on a Freudian trip.
The standard psychiatric jargon closest to the slang term going bonkers is losing touch with reality to the extent that one's behavior is both inconsistent with the truth and outwardly bizarre.
Dowd's Freudian explanation is off the mark. She suggests that "now that he’s mucked up the world and the country, he can finally stop rebelling against his dad and relax in the certainty that the Bush name will forever be associated with crash-and-burn presidencies."
This is Dowd with her trademarked snarkiness taking an opportunity to use a few choice phrases about Bush's failure as a president. That's why I forgive her for not running the column by one of her shrink friends for a fact check.
If she did I think she would have found their analysis a bit more sobering, even frightening.
Bush isn't going to give up his deep need to resolve his Oedipus conflict by proving himself to be at least as strong, if not a stronger, man than Daddy Bush. As long as he holds the power of the presidency he is in a position to make a reckless last ditch effort to make his bones having failed again and again to become the manliest man of the family.
This is why his freaky disconnect from reality and lapse into what psychotherapists call inappropriate affect is of concern to me.
If he made up the lyrics he sang at the Gridiron Club, and chose the music ("The Green Grass of Home") himself, this is quite telling from a psychological point of view. Consider:
"Down the lane I look and here comes Scooter, finally free of the
prosecutor…"
"As I step down from the plane and there to meet
me is my mama and my papa, down the lane I look and here comes Barney,
heart of gold and breath like honey."
"Yes, you're gonna
miss me, the way you used to quiz me. It's
good to touch the brown brown grass of home."
Let's not forget that Bush considers himself to be the decision maker, and that he still has the power to, using Dowd's word, really, really muck things up.
Quite some time ago I wrote about Bush suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder. In most instances people with this disorder are masters of self-denial. However when hit so hard by the truth of their lies to themselves that they can't avoid the truth of their self-deception their psychological defenses can fail dramatically.
All we need is for the man with his finger on the nuclear button to have a narcissistic meltdown.