Preparing psychological profiles of leaders is not unusual.  Sigmund Freud participated in one of the earliest of President Woodrow Wilson, and the 2 profiles of Adolph Hitler made during World War II by the OSS were helpful enough that the CIA established the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior.  The profiles this group made of Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin played an important role in Jimmy Carter's handling of the Camp David negotiations in 1978, and similar profiles continue to be made and used.  One historian (James David Barber in his book Presidential Character) has attempted an interesting broad psychological review of modern presidents in an effort to identify profiles and traits that lead to successful terms in office.  The mainstream media though avoids trying to psychoanalyze presidents, and  for good reasons; and certainly Father and Son Bush, and indeed the entire Bush clan reject any attempt to put them on the couch as “psychobabble.”
    However, the evidence that many of Son Bush’s decisions are to some significant degree the result of his relationship with his family, and particularly with his father, are so compelling, and the consequences so profound, that the question must at least be raised and explored. And these many Webpages contain a wealth of information can be summarized as follows: 
    Both George Herbert Walker Bush ("Father Bush") and George Walker Bush ("Son Bush") had fathers who achieved a high degree of success in multiple fields, with very imposing presences and very imposing resumes; both idolized their fathers who were remote or absent during much of their childhood; both were raised by very strong mothers in matriarchal families; both used family connections to advance their business careers; both followed the same path to Andover, Yale, military service and flying, the oil fields of Texas, and politics. But in many ways their lives have been very different beyond the fact that Son Bush didn't come close to matching his father's success and accomplishments until he changed his life at 40 years old.  For Example, Father Bush grew up in the privileged and high society of Greenwich Connecticut while Son Bush grew up in Midland, Texas; Father Bush went to Greenwich Day School while Son Bush went to Midland public schools (at least through the 7th grade); and although Father Bush was not the first born son and thus did not get his father's name like his older brother Prescott Jr. , Father Bush became the focus of his father's larger expectations -- and indeed his father had waived his investment firm's anti-nepotism rule so George could join it. Father Bush was also his mother's favorite in part because of his athletic ability and also because he was named for her father (George Herbert Walker). On the other hand, Son Bush was the Black Sheep of the family while second son Jeb was the clear parental favorite who was expected to go far in business and politics.
    Also while Prescott Bush was, except for singing sessions with his children, imposing and remote, Father Bush, while also absent most of the time, was far warmer and aware of the pressures on his children to succeed.  And while both Doro and Barbara adored their husbands, and both women were exceptionally strong physically and mentally, Doro also had a softer side than Barbara.  For example, a story has Father Bush complaining his tennis game was "off" and Doro replying that he “didn't have a game....” But this exchange took place when George was 8 years old and just learning to play, and she said he didn't have a game yet because he was just learning and he needed to practice more. On the other hand when Barbara watched Son Bush run in his first marathon in 1993 when he was 46 years old, while Father Bush yelled encouragement, Barbara shouted that he should run faster “because some elderly women were ahead of him....”  Funny -- and probably true, but still cutting rather than focusing on the accomplishment of running a marathon after only 2 months of training.  And while George remembered that Doro always had time for each of the kids, and would stay to play tennis or whatever no matter what the time, Barbara remembers “endless hours” with the kids, and others remember that Barbara sometimes left her children with others, even for extended times, and that for her Father Bush always came first.

    These many related Web pages suggest the following themes as the focus of further research and analysis:

1.  Barbara Bush adored her husband, and passed that on to her son who likewise adored and idealized his often absent father. “I don't know about him but I sure love him.  I think he's the greatest man I ever knew.  I wake up in the morning and look over at that funny old face and say, I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”  (Barbara Bush to Larry King)  Likewise Son Bush has said: “I don’t like it when people criticize my dad.  That’s because I love him, I love him more than anything.”  And: “I’d run through a brick wall for my dad.”
  
2. When his father stayed only 2 hours at his Yale graduation Son Bush told friends that his father “doesn’t have a normal life. I don’t have a normal father.” Certainly Father Bush was absent during extended periods of Son Bush’s childhood and most often he was not there to attend school sports or events, nor even home much to catch ball in the evenings.  Some psychologists say an idealized father who is absent is a powerful factor.  Many who knew Son Bush at every stage of his life, including Bob Bullock when Son Bush was Governor of Texas, thought that Son Bush didn’t have access to his father when he was growing up and wished he had.

3.  At some point Son Bush became aware of his father’s weaknesses as well as his strengths, and although there remained strong feelings between them, Son Bush’s competition with his father became more real and pronounced as he finally realized success with the Texas Rangers, as Governor of Texas, and finally as President.  Part of this new appraisal was the result of comparing his father with Ronald Reagan, and identifying more with Reagan’s Western persona than his father’s patrician Greenwich air; and more with Reagan’s political philosophy and steadfastness to his principles than his father’s (and grandfather’s) more liberal views and lack of "the vision thing."  Surely it hurt Son Bush deeply when Father Bush's caution and lack of ideological foundations led to stories during the 1988 election about Father Bush's "wimp factor." And surely Son Bush knew that after Iraq invaded Kuwait, Father Bush said that the United States was not even "discussing intervention," but when British prime minister Margaret Thatcher insisted that Saddam's actions had to be challenged saying "Don't go wobbly on me George;" an advisor later said Thatcher had preformed "a successful backbone transplant."  Son Bush would make sure was different and would never go "wobbly" or waver from his firmly held beliefs.  And finally, part of that re-appraisal involved realizing that his father had some human frailties as well. 

4.  The death of George and Barbara's second born, a daughter called Robin, deeply affected all of them. Robin was diagnosed with leukemia when Son Bush was 6 and Robin was 4 years old, and while Son Bush was told his sister was ill, he was left in Texas for 6 months while his parents accompanied Robin back East for treatment.  And when his parents returned Son Bush only learned of his sister’s death when he ran to the car and didn’t see his sister in the back seat. At six years old Son Bush had no opportunity to express grief since he had to care for his mother who was so severely depressed her hair turned prematurely gray, and Barbara had to come and get Son Bush when he suffered nightmares during his first “sleep-over” at a friends house after Robin’s death.  Son Bush remembers the event as follows: “Minutes before I had a little sister, and now I didn’t.  Forty-six years later those moments remain the starkest memory of my childhood, a sharp pain in the midst of an otherwise happy blur.” 
    And: “I learned in a harsh way at a very early age never to take life for granted.”  And: “You think your life is so good and everything is perfect, and then something like this happens and nothing is the same.”  He repeatedly asked his parents why they hadn’t told him how sick his sister was, and Barbara just replied that it “wouldn’t have made any difference....”  To the progression of the disease, but perhaps not to Son Bush, and while Barbara later wondered if not telling him was wrong, there were no easy answers.  In any event a large picture of Robin was prominently displayed in their home, and Barbara kept having children until after 3 more boys they finally had another daughter who was named Dorothy after Father Bush’s mother.  
    This first brush with death affected Son Bush in many ways.  For example his brother Marvin believed it made Son Bush seize “opportunities as they came without fretting about what tomorrow would bring.” This risk taking and view of death as something that can’t be controlled may have also reduced any qualms about the death penalty since he oversaw far more executions (152) than any modern governor, cut the Governor's review time from 30 to 15 minutes for each case, and expressed total confidence that all who were executed on his watch were guilty even though new DNA testing has revealed that a surprising number of death row inmates are in fact innocent -- and although other governors expressed concern, and some even halted executions.  Of course this also might play into the difficult decision to send troops into harms way.

5.  A very important factor is that only 22 years separate Father Bush from Son Bush.  For example, Father Bush was still a real presence at Andover and was remembered by all as one of Andover's finest graduates with 23 distinctions when Son Bush entered 19 years later; and while the timeframe was slightly longer at Yale, nevertheless many remembered Father Bush’s exceptional athletic and good academic record; and again when Son Bush followed his father’s footsteps into the Texas oil fields, and in his first run for Congress, the comparison was inevitable and not always kind. Surely it’s hard enough to follow in a very accomplished and successful parent’s footsteps, but when those footsteps are still warm, the path is much harder!

6.  Not only was there a short time frame between Father Bush’s and Son Bush’s paths, Father Bush’s positions on issues and in the Republican party isolated  his son to some extent at more liberal Andover and Yale, and certainly at Harvard Business School when his father as Republican National Chairman, was daily defending Nixon. This and Son Bush's Texas upbringing inevitably led to an anti-intellectual, anti-East Coast bias, and a defiant tobacco chewing, leather flight training jacket persona.   

7.  Son Bush was mistaken for his father for most of his life, and known as "Georgie," “Little George” and then "Junior" until his father lost in 1992.  When he ran for Congress for the first time at the age of 32 he repeatedly had to remind voters that he was running “as me” and not his father, and reportedly even pulled out his birth certificate at some speeches to prove that his middle name was different than his father’s.  Occasionally newspapers would run a picture of his father in place of his; and even when he began his race for the presidency polls showed that 40% of the people still confused him with his father.  "Being mistaken for your father is no joke when you are trying to establish your own identity," and it had to have bothered Son Bush.

8.  But more importantly until he was over 40 years old, Son Bush was acutely aware that he was almost entirely dependent on his father's help, money, and name, and had accomplished little on his own.  Indeed, it was not until he was elected President that he finally felt out of his father's shadow and "could dispel criticism that he could accomplish only what his father helped him to."  And while he used one of his father's old desks as Governor, when he became President that desk was sent to storage and he used JFK's old desk. 

9.  Primogenitor. Father Bush learned from his older brother Prescott Jr. about the extra burden inevitably placed on the first born son and thus carefully made sure W was not technically a "Junior." And interestingly Father Bush's experience as a second born, non-Jr., favorite son was to some extent replicated in Jeb who said: "There might be more to it for him [Son Bush] than the rest of us because he is the oldest and it is his namesake, and he more directly followed my dad’s path.  If he was openly honest about it, he might say that it had some effect, that it might define him in some way.  I learned a while back, my estimation of my father is so powerful that if I felt like I had to follow his footsteps and follow a path that he has set for me, I would fail. I came to grips with that a while back. A lot of people who have fathers like this, or moms, who have lived such extraordinary lives, feel a sense that they have failed because they haven’t reached the same level of just being a human being as their predecessor – and it creates all sorts of pathologies." 

10.   From the time he entered Andover Son Bush quickly learned that an effective and entirely natural way to responded to all these primogenitor pressures was to lower expectations.  And he continued this tactic in the political arena as Ann Richards, John McCain, Al Gore, John Kerry and others discovered to their considerable chagrin.  "It didn't take George W. long to realize that he would not be able to measure up to the man who's name he carried.  So it was on the snowy campus at Andover that W. developed his first mechanism to blunt the pressures and divert them in a different direction.  'George really saw the the value of lowering expectations,' said Elsie Walker Kilbourne, 'He became a master at it.  The whole family clown thing was as much about lowering expectations so he wouldn't disappoint than anything.'" 

 

11.  Jeb, not GW, was the favored son.  In addition to facing the heavy first-son burden, W also faced enormous competition with his brother Jeb, who, like his father, after graduating Phi Beta Kappa from college in 3 years (from the University of Texas not Yale) and achieving financial success in business, became the favorite son as Son Bush became the "black sheep" of the family.  Indeed, in 1972 Son Bush had enough problems with at least alcohol that Father Bush asked a friend to give him a job with a campaign in Alabama to get him out of Houston.  These problems may well have been an unconscious attempt to screw up enough to relieve these intense primogenitor and sibling pressures.  But more, Jeb had always been interested in politics and policies and at one point even threatened to resist the draft.  And unlike his father and older brother, Jeb is very articulate and, as his mother pointedly said, “can speak beautifully without any notes.” As the political star of the family, Jeb was suppose to have won his run for governor of Florida against Lawton Childs in 1994, the same year W was suppose to lose his race against popular incumbent Texas Governor Ann Richards. And as Son Bush poignantly noted, after the returns were in his parents seemed far more concerned and upset that Jeb lost than happy that he won.
 
12.  Mother & Son. While most commentators focus on the similarities and differences between Father Bush and Son Bush, as Son Bush says, he has his father’s eyes and his mother’s mouth -- and temperament -- and certainly he is more like his mother than his father in many ways.  Many historians have noted how so many U.S. presidents have had a very close relationship with their mothers.  Certainly Father Bush was very close to his mother Doro.  And since Father Bush was away so much, Son Bush by default had a close relationship with his mother.  For example, after Robin's death Barbara said she realized she had to get over her grief when she heard young W tell a friend he couldn't play because he had to look after his mother.  But the relationship between Barbara and W was different and more complex, e.g. while Father Bush called his mother almost every day, Son Bush went almost a year without speaking to his mother in the 1980's when they were feuding about his behavior. Moreover, Barbara’s "matronly" public persona is deceiving.  For example, while her comments are often seen refreshing for a politician’s wife (most famously characterizing  vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro "as a word that rhymes with 'rich'"), that bluntness extends to all, including her family.  Barbara admits to “screaming and carrying on,” and Son Bush said: “I’ve been reprimanded by Barbara Bush as a child and I’ve  been reprimanded as an adult.  And in both circumstances, it’s not very fun.”
    Her style is strong rather than warm, sarcastic rather than humorous.  She has experienced times of severe depression, notably after Robin died and later in 1976 when the children were grown and Father Bush was in Washington D.C. or traveling, sometimes accompanied by a long-term female assistant.  In 1989 when Son Bush was seriously considering running for Texas governor, his mother first privately told him not to, and then when he continued, went public saying he should work for the Texas Rangers baseball team before running for governor.  Son Bush angrily responded: “Thank you very much.  You’ve been giving me advice for 42 years, most of which I haven’t taken.”  And then when he ran in 1994, his mother told him he couldn’t beat the very popular Ann Richards.  But above all, the children knew, as Son Bush said, that Barbara “put her relationship with her husband above her relationship with us.” 
    And finally Bar differs from the moneyed old guard Eastern establishment that hates publicity and would never write a book like Recollections in which she offers a laundry list of vacations, dinners, and guests (and which seems contrary to Doro’s admonition to be discreet, never brag, and keep a low profile -- although of course most of the moneyed old guard didn't lead as interesting a life or have the same accomplishments).  And while the Bushes didn’t have the big money of the Kennedys or the old money of the Roosevelts, having two presidents moved them beyond both. (And “41" & “43" are interesting terms, meant to draw attention to the fact that in the history of our nation there have only been 43 presidents and the Bushes have two of them.)

13.  Another Barbara trait is to be extremely protective of her family members; as she told Larry King, people can criticize her, but if they criticize her husband or her children or her in-laws, "they're dead."  And that protectiveness extends to all of her children and not just Son Bush and Jeb, and usually to her in-laws as well.  Surely a strong maternal instinct is evident when she said she felt people who asked Son Bush if he had ever used cocaine were misguided because "who cares what happened 20 years ago," and dismissed his arrest for drunk driving as minor because he was stopped for "driving too slowly!"  

14.  Some have questioned if Son Bush has a learning disability or an attention deficit-hyperactivity problem. Neither were recognized when he was growing up -- rather some kids were just physically over-active and intellectually slow or difficult, and since any special help was non-existent, if the disability was severe he could not have survived Andover, Yale, or Harvard.  Son Bush’s brother Neil was later diagnosed with dyslexia and it is known to run in families.  In any event, Son Bush appears to be an active and audio learner preferring oral briefings to briefing books; he said he doesn’t like “long books (although insiders say he reads a lot),” and policy papers are usually limited to no more than three pages -- and sometimes with key phrases highlighted (although again this may well be because of the subject matter --even a policy wonk like Nixon said he "didn't give a shit about the Lira" -- and note that another expert has hypothesized that W's tendency to jumble and make up words is evidence of an auditory problem, not a reading problem.)
    Father Bush’s hyperactivity is well known, and for example both Father and Son Bush play “speed golf” that is based not just on the score but the number of holes they can play in a set time (for example playing 18 holes in 70 minutes!)  Son Bush often has trouble sitting still and has been known to be visibly uncomfortable and even make faces in situations he cannot control -- and this might explain some of his problems in the first debate with John Kerry. Son Bush’s working schedule often includes exceptionally short 5 minute meetings; every attempt is made to limit 60-90 minute policy briefing to no more than twice a week; and his schedule ALWAYS provides ample time for rest and exercise. 
    However, while these types of problems may provide insight to Son Bush’s mind and decisions, they don’t have anything to do with intelligence.  Indeed by all accounts Son Bush has "enough intelligence to do the job," and by all accounts he has a remarkable memory at least for names and baseball statistics; he graduated from three of our country's most elite schools; and he has a good grasp of details in areas like education that he has carefully studied.  And of course he has a considerable amount of "emotional intelligence," most people learn ways to compensate for reading or learning problems, and indeed most accomplished people are hyperactive in some ways.  

15.  Several experts have suggested Son Bush suffers from a “dry drunk” syndrome that focuses on punctuality and keeping one's environment as predictable and manageable as possible.  In this interpretation, an obsession with punctuality is not about politeness but rather a desire to keep the environment under control because losing control is equated with falling off the wagon.  In any event since the long term success rate for problem drinkers is very low unless undertaken with a program like AA, the fact that he has done so apparently without outside aid or intervention shows his enormous iron will and self-discipline.

16.  While Son Bush poses as a "regular guy" and did some rural-retail campaigning especially early in his career, like his other siblings, he has led a trust-fund life of great privilege and advantage that affords little contact with poor working people.  Even early in their marriage Barbara had considerable domestic help (which was usual for the time), and since 1992 she has regularly taken elaborate and extended trips with various family members around the world as well as a chartering a yacht large enough to accommodate their entire family each summer for a cruise in the Mediterranean.  As Barbara noted:  "Politics has been very good to this family..." in money as well as status. 

17.  Political power is particularly addicting, and as Grandfather Bush’s poignant statement shows, one need not be insecure to find it so. Part of the appeal is the opportunity to do good and make a difference.  But part also is the amazing power, perks and celebrity status involved,  and of course if you are always accompanied by more firepower than in a small country’s army, you must be important... and currently the US President is at the apex of the world’s power pyramid.  Anyone who has not been close to this type of power is hard pressed to understand how even the most minor interactions are altered, from the powerful and articulate who, as Jimmy Carter observed, "suddenly have cotton in their mouths when entering the Oval Office," to the “either you work the room or the room works you...” i.e. the way strangers try to approach powerful people and  kiss up to them.  Surely one needs an exceptionally good BS meter just to survive, and thus old friends are usually the best friends.

18.  As should be expected from a former fraternity president, Son Bush can be very charming and considerate, and often relies more on that charm  than any substantive knowledge or debating skills.  Indeed many even on the left agree with Molly Ivins, who has known W since school days and says she actually likes him, but just feels he is a terrible president. Along with that charm is W’s belief that he has a great BS meter and can “read” people.  And while unfortunately W can be slow to realize that meter is fallible, part of that “reading” is a healthy disdain for the obsequiousness of so many in “power Washington.”  An example of both of these traits is Paul O’Neill’s account of how W took time to talk to his long time secretary and make sure she had a tour of the Oval Office, something no other president or high ranking official had ever done... or probably even thought of doing.  

 

19.  There is ample evidence of his strong will.  But more, most who know him also remark about his stubbornness... which can be a virtue in the face of overwhelming odds.  However, people can also be stubborn when they are too proud to back down, i.e.  a lack of self-esteem could cause them to continue to hold a position even when they know they are wrong because it is too hard to accept that they may be wrong. 

20. Faith.  Some have joked that it is logical for GW to believe he became president as part of some divine plan because he surely knows he didn’t get there through hard work or ability!  But unfortunately there is more truth than humor there, and indeed one explanation for W’s ignoring the tenuousness of his first election and the fact that over 500,000 more people voted for his opponent and barging ahead with his agenda was that some "unseen hand" had picked him -- and his agenda -- and this belief was only reinforced, and gave him great comfort, after nine-eleven.  

 

"W had great interpersonal intelligence; he could understand other people, what motivated them, what they wanted, and how to persuade them.  But he lacked self-understanding.  He didn't really understand himself because, as with all the Bushes, introspection was not encouraged."     (A relative quoted in Schweitzer's The Bushes)

  
Also See the Nine Fundamental Problems with W's Decision Making Process