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The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography is the first complete psychological biography of President Barack Obama written by a professional clinical psychologist. Covering Obama's life to date, as well as the lives of his parents, grandparents, and other ancestors, this fascinating volume illuminates the personal, professional, political, emotional, intellectual, and creative aspects of Obama's personality, as well as the motives--conscious and unconscious--for his beliefs and actions.Dr. Avner Falk draws on hundreds of biographies, newspaper and magazine articles, interviews, investigative reports, and more, using psychoanalytic models developed by Sigmund Freud, Donald Winnicott, Peter Blos, Heinz Kohut, and Schiffer to probe Obama's psychological development. Examining every facet of the president's biography, he delves into his earliest feelings of abandonment and helplessness, his inner conflicts, his protective relationship with his mother, his ambivalent identification with his father, and his quest for identity. Perhaps most intriguingly, Dr. Falk explores the psychological origins of Obama's "fierce ambitions" and the ingredients of his charisma.
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The Riddle of Barack Obama
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THE RIDDLE OF BARACK OBAMA A Psychobiography
Avner Falk
Copyright 2010 by Avner Falk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Falk, Avner. The riddle of Barack Obama : a psychobiography / Avner Falk. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-38587-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-38588-9 (e-book) 1. Obama, Barack—Psychology. 2. Presidents—United States—Biography. I. Title. E908.3.F35 2010 973.932092—dc22 [B] 2010016626 ISBN: 978-0-313-38587-2 EISBN: 978-0-313-38588-9 14
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This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Praeger An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Preface
vii
Acknowledgments
xi
Introduction
xiii
1.
“Gramps” and “Toot”
1
2.
A Girl Named Stanley
9
3.
A Paternal Grandfather Named “The Terror”
17
4.
A Narcissistic and Self-Destructive Father
21
5.
The Fatherless Child and His Unhappy Mother
39
6.
A Stepfather from Indonesia
47
7.
Protecting His Mother
51
8.
Adolescence and the Quest for Identity
81
9.
In His Father’s Footsteps
99
10.
Name Change and Identity Struggle
105
11.
The Community as Family
117
12.
Outdoing His Father
157
vi
CONTENTS
13. Michelle: Mentor, Lover, Wife, and Mother
193
14. Marriage: The New Family
203
15. Fatherhood and Politics
207
16. A Humiliating Defeat
223
17. Fierce Ambitions
229
18. The Audacity of Ambition
247
19. Abandoning Another “Bad Father”
251
20. Obama’s Charisma
259
21. Repairing “Mot