DEFENSIVE DISPLACEMENT
The psychiatric term displacement describes an unconscious psychological compromise in which one expresses negative emotions about another person or thing, while the actual source of rage or disappointment remains obscure. For example, a man who is actually angry with his domineering wife focuses his unhappiness on his boss's shortcomings.
Two forms of protection result: the accuser finds some relief by venting his feelings without consciously recognizing the real source of his frustration -- which might cause even more anxiety -- and the genuine object of his fury remains unaware that these feelings are actually aimed at her.
It strikes me that what Maureen Dowd calls "the Rummy Mutiny" is not exactly what it seems -- to her, to the rest of the press, to Bush, or to the generals themselves. The generals want Donald Rumsfeld, Bush's Secretary of Defense, to resign because of arrogance and incompetence. It is too dangerous emotionally -- not just politically -- for these generals to urge the resignation of their Commander in Chief, the person who is in fact responsible for the disastrous turn of events in Iraq.
Frustration with the war is more evident than ever, and displacement does allow for increasingly strenuous objections. emThe Washington Post/em tacitly understands it: on Saturday April 15, they published a front page story about an angry blogger from California who is certain that Bush is responsible for everything that's wrong with our nation. Luckovich, of the emAtlanta Constitution/em also gets it: his April 15 cartoon depicts a "Pottery Barn" sales person exclaiming "He's back" as an impish George Bush is about to knock over the "Iran" jar to go alongside the shattered "Iraq" jar at his feet.
Still, displacement rules the day. The only group directly demanding that Bush resign is the Gold Star Mothers for Peace. They place responsibility for this tragic war where it belongs, at the door of the Oval Office. In fact, their message is so clear that President Bush did not go to Crawford for Easter -- the first time in five years -- because they have revived Camp Casey there.
The same pattern of displacement is familiar to families of alcoholics, where, for example, the children of an alcoholic father rail against the uncle whom they feel is responsible for their father's drinking. It is too dangerous to confront Dad directly. Thus far, only bereaved families have had the courage to call for Bush's resignation. But does this mean that we all have to become bereaved before speaking out?
Calling for Bush's Defense Secretary to step down still involves courage, as many of these so-called "rebellious generals" have been attacked and ridiculed by the media for politicizing the war on terror. Even the left has criticized these same generals for speaking up too late. But in the final analysis what these brave generals really want is for Bush to leave the office he has disgraced. It's just easier for all concerned to attack Uncle Don R. than their real target -- daddy George W.
by Dr. Justin Frank
Justin Frank M.D. is an expert in the field of psychoanalysis. A clinician with more than thirty year's experience, Dr. Frank has also been a former columnist for Salon magazine and is a frequent writer on topics as diverse as politics, film, and theater. He is the co-director of the Metropolitan Center for Object Relations in New York, a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, and a teaching analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.
Dr. Frank used the principles of applied psychoanalysis to assemble a comprehensive psychological profile of President George W. Bush in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President (ReganBooks).
Dr. Frank did his psychiatric residency at Harvard Medical School and was chief resident at the Cambridge Hospital. Dr. Frank was also awarded the DuPont-Warren Fellowship by Massachusetts General Hospital..
Dr. Frank lives in Washington D.C. where he teaches and practices psychoanalysis.
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