In Jungian psychology there are concepts of "Anima" and "Animus". Men have in their unconscious a deep seated archetype of an "ideal" female. When they meet a woman that "fits" this image, they fall in love. With women, of course, it's the other way around - they want to meet their "Animus".
However, such ideal fits (simultaneously for both) are rare and hard to come by. So, people do the next best thing - they project their ideal on the opposite party. We all remember those popular girls with whom it was so easy to fall in love - they tend to be somewhat... vague, undefined, easy to imagine as being someone who they may not, in fact, be.
(And you thought it was all hormones... LOL!)
Anyway, such romantic situations become problematic once realty asserts itself, and it becomes obvious that the other person is not who we thought they were.
Obama is such a political "Animus", and it is indeed very easy to project on him a great variety of hopes and images. The truth is that that people *want* to fall in love with him, and many do. There is no doubt that it will all end in disappointment. |
