Robert Shrum: The brainless use of pop psychology to diss Obama

[dennis4868]

Emory University psychology professor Drew Westen aspires to advise Democrats on political strategy. But his book The Political Brain reminds me of a scene in Theodore H. White's Making of the President: 1960, in which row after row of cigar smoking Boston pols is arrayed behind John F. Kennedy as he delivers the final speech of his presidential campaign, written on their faces a barely concealed envy which says Kennedy has a trick; and if they themselves had the trick, they too could be president. Westen's trick is common sense dressed up as pop psychology: The idea that leaders have to be passionate as well as rational.

In a New York Times blog post titled "Decision 2013," Westen is certainly passionate. He offers strong opinions about the shortcomings — perhaps the "narcissism" — of a president "tied up in knots of indecision" because "he fears precisely the emotions that allow us to choose between one course of action or another." It is a scathing indictment from someone who plainly feels his counsel and wisdom have been scorned. It is also a stunning repudiation of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's insistence that people are entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.

Westen assails the president for postponing the decision on an oil pipeline from Canada across the Midwest to refineries in the U.S: Obama should have killed it outright; delay could be deceit, with the president giving his approval after the 2012 election.There's no doubt that the administration differs with elements of the environmental movement on a central question of energy policy — developing new sources of domestic production during what will inevitably be a long transition to renewable and cleaner fuel. So yes, Obama may ultimately approve the pipeline. He hasn't yet, to the displeasure of an industry that ran a disapproving full page ad right there in the Times. But the reason for the delay was policy, not politics. As the State Department announced, "Concerns regarding the environmental sensitivities of the current proposed route through the Sand Hills area of Nebraska" call for "an in-depth assessment of potential alternative routes." The conservative Republican governor of Nebraska, who supports the pipeline, opposes the route. Obama did what any president or steward of the environment should. He decided to seek a way to tap the oil without endangering a critical landscape and aquifer. It wasn't Westen's preferred emotional decision to cancel the pipeline outright; it was rational — and on the evidence, it was right.

Rest of the article is here....http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/221665/the-brainless-use-of-pop-psychology-to-diss-obama/1

[Enrique]

1. the pop psychology part is at the very end of the article

I don't like that either, speculating on Obama's mental state. Whether it's in Obama's favor or not, I think it's pretty useless.

But most of this article is not about that, it's about Shrum defending Obama from Westen's subtantive criticisms.