Obama on the Couch

In this follow-up to his instant New York Times bestseller Bush on the Couch, Dr. Frank analyzes the sometimes perplexing behavior of our current President, reaching conclusions that provide new ways of understanding Obama—certain to fascinate admirers and opponents alike.

Even Barack Obama’s most fervent supporters must now 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. Frank—a highly respected, widely published expert on psychoanalysis and a practicing psychiatrist—uses applied psychoanalysis to illuminate aspects of Obama’s personality and behavior. He successfully employed this technique to explain and understand the behaviors of our previous president. Delving into the challenges of Obama’s past, especially his turbulent childhood, he illuminates the unconscious thought processes that influence the President’s behavior. Dr. Frank argues that some of Obama’s decisions—from his handling of health care reform to his selection and support of economic advisors—are 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 upon the opposition, which has often resulted in weak or ineffective policies.

Intriguing and provocative, Obama on the Couch sheds light on a complicated man—his destructive tendencies and impressive strengths—drawing connections between past and present that can reframe recent history in revealing new ways, which may even help anticipate what Obama’s future—and the future of our nation—hold.