More Evidence that Bush Is a "Dry Drunk"?

History News Network ^ | jan 28, 2004 | Katherine Van Wormer

[wildbill]

More Evidence that Bush Is a "Dry Drunk"? By Katherine van Wormer Ms. van Wormer is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa and co-author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective.

Paul O’Neill’s revelations, the primary source for Ron Suskind’s book The Price of Loyalty concerning the timing of George W Bush’s plans to overthrow Saddam in Iraq should have come as no surprise. The ostensible reasons for going to war -- the claimed link between Iraq and al-Queda and the claimed possession of weapons of mass destruction -- have been shown to be without substance. The typical explanation offered by the mainstream press and political pundits was that September 11 was a turning point.

What September 11 did was provide the justification. “From the start,” said Paul O’Neill in his book interview, “we were building the case against Hussein and looking at how we could take him out and change Iraq into a new country…It was about finding a way to do it that was the tone of it…the president saying, ‘Fine. Go find me a way to do this.’ And how would O’Neill know? O’Neill, as Secretary of the Treasury also sat on the National Security Council.

Even though, under pressure, while O’Neill has tried to tone down his statements, the mass media have continued to highlight the revelations. Missing from all the recent analyses and editorials, however, is any attention to the reason why: Why did Bush have this thing about Saddam? Why the “detour into an unnecessary war in Iraq?” as the U.S.Army War College recently put it.

“He tried to kill my Dad,” the President once explained. But I believe there was more to this unnecessary war than that. I believe there was a method in Bush’s madness, a method that most likely had as little to do with oil as it did to terrorism. For the answer we need to look deeply in the psyche of the man (inferred from his biography).

Earlier several other writers and I likened Bush’s personality characteristics to those of a person who, in AA parlance, is “dry” but whose thinking is not really sober. Grandiosity, rigidity, and intolerance of ambiguity, and a tendency to obsess about things are among the traits associated with the dry drunk. The dry drunk quits drinking, but his or her obsession with the bottle is often replaced with other obsessions. Twelve Step programs help their members modify their all-or-nothing thought patterns which associated with the disease alcoholism. “Easy does it” and “One day at a time” are among the slogans; the serenity prayer, similarly, helps persons with addictive tendencies to curb the tendency to excess.

In Bush’s irrational patterns of thought lie the clues to his single-minded obsession with Iraq. For the explanation for Bush’s vendetta against this one country, we have to look to his biography and to the meaning that Iraq held for his father.

The father-son relationship can be problematic in any family. When the father is considered a big hero, the first-born son, especially one bearing the father’s name, identity issues are common. As any chronology of George W Bush’s childhood will show, the son was set up to follow in the exact footsteps of his father. Sent away to the very New England prep school where his father’s accomplishments were still remembered, the younger Bush became better known for his pranks than athletic or academic achievements. His drinking bouts caused problems during his military service as well. (Remember that his father had been a war hero.) In college there was heavy drinking and other drug misuse, one arrest for a wild college prank and one conviction for drunken driving.

A much later religious conversion turned his life around. George W. Bush’s father set him up in business, and his father’s presidency helped him get his start in politics. His father, for all his success, experienced failure on three occasions. He was widely criticized for not finishing the job in Iraq-- for not moving the troops in to “take out” Saddam following the Gulf War victory--and he failed to get his bill to fund a NASA flight to Mars, and finally, he lost his bid for re-election.

What a unique opportunity has fallen George W Bush’s way. The prodigal son can not only prove himself to his father but he can show up his father at his own game. Remember that for his cabinet and key advisers, he chose some of the same men from his father’s regime. He chose people, furthermore, who would be favorable to a return campaign, “a crusade” against Iraq. Given his past history and tendency toward obsessiveness, the temptation to achieve heroism through a re-enactment of his father’s war clearly would have been too much for George Bush Jr. to resist.

To accomplish his mission he would have to throw caution and international diplomacy to the winds, lie convincingly to the American people, threaten allies, bully members of the United Nations, but in the end he would be able to dress in full military regalia and declare “mission accomplished.”

The fact that the targeting of Iraq had become one man’s personal crusade even seemed somewhat extreme to the father who was indirectly responsible. Yes, the man who knows George W. best, the person most familiar with his rashness of thought, indirectly sent him a message. In a speech at Tufts University, George Bush Sr. emphasized the need for the U.S. to maintain close ties with Europe and the UN. “You’ve got to reach out to the other person,” he advised.

More recently, Bush has raised an unprecedented amount of money for his re-election campaign. And his grandiose (and much ridiculed) plans to launch rockets to Mars (and the moon) could have been predicted. The method in his madness is clear once you understand the pattern. Whether the majority of the American people will ever see the light remains to be seen. The starting point may be Paul O’Neill’s revelations, because one is then to prone to ask the question, Why?

[wildbill]

You have to read this on the source--a site for supposedly professional historians--to understand what passes for intellectual insight today. The HNN site has a reply forum and, so far, it's mostly against her rant.

[XHogPilot]

I thought Freud and his wack theories had been repudiated.

[Petronski]

He's repudiated except when useful to the left.

[nonsporting]

Where's the BARF alert? (Or should that be DRY HEAVE?)

[Reagan Man]

The liberal intelligentsia. What a crock of crap.

[clintonh8r]

...Professor of Social Work...

I should have stopped reading right there.

[mountaineer]

The dry drunk quits drinking, but his or her obsession with the bottle is often replaced with other obsessions.

Does this explain certain leftists' obsession with George W. Bush?

[angkor]

Van Wormer managed to type right through her own third paragraph without realizing that she is a complete blithering idiot.

[Pseudo-shrink] heal thyself.

[Space Wrangler]

His father, for all his success, experienced failure on three occasions. He was widely criticized for not finishing the job in Iraq-- for not moving the troops in to “take out” Saddam following the Gulf War victory

This one is really getting old. Every lefty in the US would have had an outright conniption fit screaming at the top of their lungs that Bush I didn't have the authority or the political expedience to proceed with such a campaign. What a load.

[onedoug]

So stupid that only a professor could believe it.

[eskimo]

The HNN site has a reply forum and, so far, it's mostly against her rant.

Well, there are some points of "her rant" that are not completely unfounded.

[Richard Kimball]

Does this explain certain leftists' obsession with George W. Bush?

Nice one! That deserves a rim-shot.

[camle]

didn't your sponsor tell you not to take another person's inventory?

[johnnyp16]

For motivation, simply look to paragraph 2 of the author's bio:

"Katherine van Wormer grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and received her B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina and went to get a postgraduate degree in education from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland; a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Georgia and finally an MSSW from the University of Tennessee.

Active in the civil rights and peace movements at home and in Northern Ireland, Katherine van Wormer continues to work for peace. Her academic work has been mostly in the area of women in prison and alcoholism treatment. For two and a half years she worked as an alcoholism counselor in Washington State and Ohio, and for two years as a program director at a treatment center north of Hamar, Norway."

[biblewonk]

There is no such thing as a dry drunk.

[Burkeman1]

Yeah- and Goldwater was judged to be "insane" by a paid for hack armchair shrink of the Dems. This stuff is just sickening. There is more circumstantial evidence to suggest CLinton is a sociopath.

[truth_seeker]

Insofar as this author is NOT an authority on alcoholism, or recovery from same, consider such lay analysis with a tiny grain of salt.

This recovered alcoholic sees in Bush a whole bunch of maturity, rational big picture behavior, humility, spirituality.

Going to Iraq wasn't just Bush's decision, alone. Many others with no alcoholism issues came to the same conclusion, including Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc.

O'Neill is a disgrace at best. More like a disloyal incompetent sob.

More words are not justified, against this hit piece.

[VeniVidiVici]

Professor of Social Work? What the heck is that?

Wonder if they have a Professor of Sanitation Engineering? Or maybe it's the same?

[3catsanadog]

People in the addictions field (and many who spend most of their waking moments at 12-step meetings) think that anyone who is sober and having a bad day is a dry drunk. Everything gets scrutinized to the nth degree.

[FairOpinion]

This is a leftist site, pretending to be respectable.

Is there any reason to give publicity to this trash on FR?

Here is another "gem" from the same site ( I won't bother giving the link):

"Why We'll Pay a Price for Bush's Fibs About Iraq's WMD P. M. Carpenter "

[wireman]

"Wonder if they have a Professor of Sanitation Engineering? Or maybe it's the same?"

Hey! Stop insulting Professors of Sanitation Engineering like that!

[cynicom]

These social/wordsmiths have never produced a dimes worth of anything in their life. From day one they are consumers as parasites on society, never are they producers.

[GSWarrior]

These 'Bush is a dry drunk' comparisons make me want to take up drinking.

[ozzymandus]

What is a political smear job written by a "Professor of Social Work" (whatever that is) doing on a site supposedly for professional historians? Don't tell me, Iknow: It;s Bush-bashing commie crap, so they printed it without a second thought (or a first thought).

[Alouette]

A "dry drunk" is someone who acts intoxicated even though never having imbibed an alcoholic beverage. Kind of the way liberals are all the time.

[Toespi]

Well I suppose if Clinton has to be a sexual addict, then a tea-totalling George Bush has to become a dry drunk. The history that the liberals are creating for future generations is shameless.

[meadsjn]

Ms. van Wormer is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa and co-author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective.

And the Social Work profession is the refuge of the most stubborn dysfunctional co-dependents, those who refuse to look at their own insanity, opting instead to inflict their controlling, manipulative behavior on innocent people outside their own sick family circle.

[bird4four4]

Grandiosity, rigidity, and intolerance of ambiguity, and a tendency to obsess about things

The left see these as flaws. They'd rather have low expectation, flexability to explore alternative styles, no wrong answers just grey areas, and don't bother persuing anything if it was meant to be it will happen all by itself.

[Mo1]

You've got to be kidding .. where did they find this one?

[F.J. Mitchell]

This proves that the inmates have taken over the liberal asylum and are on the intercom calling everyone else crazy.

[Viking2002]

I completely resent the entire nature of this article. Now excuse me while I freshen up my drink. :-)

[mrsmith]

She's been using this pap to get attention with for almost a year now.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/05/25/IN226761.DTL&type=printable

[MEG33]

Professional? Professional hit piece.Professional hogwash.I can't believe this appears on the History channel site.

[joesnuffy]

Aint that the truth..

[CaptRon]

Professor of Social Work. When I need to weave a basket I'll call ya. In the meatime I'll leave the psychoanalyis for the professionals.

[cwb]

Yep! And when you consider that Bush only had the support of 10 Senate Democrats (including Gore's bribe for support) to even go into Iraq, the opposition was much more prevelant. These people who now say that Bush 41 should've finished the job are liars. They objected to the very Liberation of Kuwait. And who can forget the sites from the "Highway of Death" as every liberal demanded we pull out immediately. The irony in all this is that these Democrats objected to the Gulf War even though the UN fully supported it. Today, they now say we can only act if the UN supports it. It is so obvious that Democrats object to any war a Republican wages regardless of merit.

[GSWarrior]

A dry drunk is someone who used to drink to excess who exhibits the personality characteristics of someone who is still drinking.

[aruanan]

The ostensible reasons for going to war -- the claimed link between Iraq and al-Queda and the claimed possession of weapons of mass destruction -- have been shown to be without substance.

Poor deluded academic.

[Republic]

Scary to think this woman is a professor. Sad, too. This woman's bias provided her with blinders big enough to make astounding leaps of assumption based on almost nothing but her own need to trash President Bush. Poor woman. She needs help.

[Poohbah]

You shoulda provided the BARF! alert.

[Krodg]

Have any of you read 'The Faith of George W. Bush'? It doesn't deal much on what he believes but more on how he came to be the man he is because of what he believes.

[Keith]

it's isn't...it's some communist front called the "History News network"...and the professor works at the People's Democratic Republic of Northern Iowa.

[NeoCaveman]

I got half way through this B.S. and decided I needed a drink.

[HairOfTheDog]

The dry drunk quits drinking, but his or her obsession with the bottle is often replaced with other obsessions. Twelve Step programs help their members modify their all-or-nothing thought patterns which associated with the disease alcoholism.

Actually, For people drinking from compulsion (which is not all heavy drinkers, contrary to modern diseasism) AA replaces alcohol with a healthier, yet just as dependent addiction to AA.

[Abynormal]

That was pitiful. To ignore the facts of 9/11 that were a driving force in this war on terrorism and to indicate that Bush is simply trying to 'please daddy' is unconscienable (sp?). It makes me sick that these people force their sick opinions and try to call it historical documentation.

[FormerACLUmember]

Ah yes, the open minded University environment flowers again. This is the junk science and flaming propaganda that is being indoctrinated into many a young mind full of mush college student. At $300 per credit!

I ruminate over ideas about liberating the more stench filled toilets of campuses (such as where this neo-Stalinist vermin teaches) but have yet failed to come up with ideas. Any sugggestions?

[GSWarrior]

I've been through 12 steps for substance abuse. Haven't been to a meeting since 1993, which, incidentally was when I stopped using bad stuff. Some folk go to AA, stop drinking and move on. Others do just what you said.

[prairiebreeze]

a Google of Ms. Van Worner yields she's written:

Social Work with Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals: A Strengths Perspective

Restorative Justice and Social Work By Katherine van Wormer, MSSW, PhD

This quote from the latter is instructive about Ms. Warner:

Before I became a social worker, I spent a lot of time around the courts. As an instructor of criminal justice, I studied the adversary system and played a limited role in helping defense attorneys with jury selection. Much of what I learned about justice in the United States—the plea bargaining, the guilty released on minor technicalities, the “one-size-fits-all” harsh sentencing, the win-or-lose mentality—was disillusioning. Books such as Karl Menninger’s The Crime of Punishment, Howard Zehr’s Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, and Jeffrey Reiman’s The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice provide compelling critiques of the standard, Anglo-Saxon form of justice.

[tx_eggman]

It also reveals her web page at UNI

Have at it:

http://www.uni.edu/vanworme/

Contact

vanwormer@uni.edu
Katherine Van Wormer Ph.D.,MSSW
Professor of Social Work
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0405. 319-273-6379

[freedumb2003]

By Katherine van Wormer

Over-educated, Liberal and Stupid is no way to go through life, lady.