"Freudian Slips"

The father of Modern Psychology was Dr. Sigmund Freud (Swiss). His most famous work was the 1900 work Interpretations of Dreams. It laid out his theories on dreams, the conscious and the unconscious. Over the years, an expression has come into the English language: “The Freudian Slip". Freud, however, never gave his name to any of his theories preferring to call all his ideas psychoanalysis. Nevertheless, virtually all  "slips of the tongue" or unintended speech has been lumped into the catch-all phrase “The Freudian Slip".

In every day terms a "Freudian Slip" is when you say something that you did not intend to say. For example: a pretty woman says to a man would you like some bread and butter and he says, "of course I would like some bed and butter". Was it merely a mental lapse that he said the wrong word or was he thinking I'd like to sleep with her? There is a difference between a hidden thought and a subconscious one. Hidden thoughts are where you really are thinking sex (in the example) but just didn't want to say anything about sex. Subconscious thoughts are where you are not even aware that you'd like to have sex with the woman and it surprises you when the suggestion of bed (sex) just "pops" out unexpectedly.  In summary: a hidden thought is one where a person is aware of what they think but are trying to keep these thoughts hidden and the subconscious thought is one where a person has a thought(s) but don't "consciously” know they have them.

That gets me to two recent, eye-popping, "Freudian Slips" that Presidential candidates Romney and Obama have made. First: Mitt Romney's line about class size not being a significant factor in quality education. Surely Mitt doesn't believe that and in fact he quickly backed off that position, claiming he meant something else. Did he? Then there was Barack Obama's line about the private sector doing just fine in today's economy. That line immediately hit a lot of nerves and to this day even Obama laughingly says "what was I thinking"? Both candidates gave us unintended speech in a big way, but why did they? 

 It could matter more than merely dismissing it as “no big deal”.

If  Mitt Romney believes that the number of students in a class doesn't affect learning then that is really troubling. It can't be good for Americans can it? It would indicate he is really out of touch with an important component of American life: education. There is no study that supports what he said and countless studies with the highest quality of research that all say class size is crucial in learning. What else does he believe that he keeps hidden but tells the people what he needs to get elected?

What about Obama? Let's face it if you've look at the numbers, he, Michele and their kids have been living the high life in the White House. 800,000 dollar weekend getaways, parties, I can't begin to list how cushy life has been for them. They are not feeling the pain that the average american is "out there". So when the President says the private sector, is doing just fine what is he saying? Is he saying he thinks we are doing fine when it’s universally understood that most "we’s" are not? Is it a reflection that he is doing fine? Is it an indication he doesn't really have a clue how the average american is doing? Is it an indication he doesn't really care how the average american is doing?

If on the other hand what if what they both said was not a hidden belief but a subconscious one that just, "popped out" then that may be even more troubling. 

Here's why: if Romney believes good education has no correlation to class size then what else about American Education does he believe? How out of touch with this topic is he?   How could he be that far off? And if he is that far off in his thinking on education what else has his privileged life insulated him from? Does, he think American workers shouldn't have unions, that everyone not working is a slug, that women should be homemakers? Probably not, but that is the tricky thing about the subconscious, it affects us and we often don’t know how or why? Freudian slips can be a brief glimpse into a person’s deeper conscious. I don’t want a President with a deep seated belief that most American schools are like the ones he went to or that his kids went to. You know the privileged, private schools where class size probably didn’t matter that much. He might not be connected to the average american like his critics have said. It’s something to consider at least.

What if what Obama said was a momentary glimpse into his subconscious? What if  deep inside he thinks that if he is doing just fine, well everything (and everyone) else is doing just fine. He’s been criticized for not having done enough for middle class americans in 3 ½ years. Could it be he doesn’t really see/feel economic hardships in heartland America because well, he has a great life? Could it be he doesn’t see that much of an urgency to get the economy fixed because down deep inside he thinks Americans are doing just fine. Is that why he spent a year pushing Obama Care very little on the economy? Is that why he gone golfing 100 times since taking office and Americans linger in distress? Probably not but it is something to consider.

Look we all have done "slip ups". Call the one we are with the name of the one we used to be with and often these “slip ups” are embarrassing and some can even be funny. However, saying class size doesn't matter or that private sector Americans are doing just fine is not a misused word here or there. They are awfully clueless statements from two candidates that are trying really hard to get you and I to believe that they are "clued in" on what's going on in the world.

The only thing worse that they could have said would have been if Romney had said: hey let's get rid of all teachers, the kids can teach themselves or if Barack had said: the average American has never had it so good"!

Finally, I sincerely hope both were tired, distracted, missing their spouses and kids, hungry, overwhelmed or some plausible explanation. Tired, distracted people can say weird things. Let's hope what each said was not a "Freudian Slip". One of those: I do believe it but didn't want to say it or I do believe it but didn't even know I believed it until it just "popped out". It's one thing for me to say some off the wall thing like maybe we should cut federal spending before we all go under. You could say, “That Will, what a nut”! But when seasoned Presidential Candidates say goofy things we have to hope they didn't really believe what they said either consciously or subconsciously. 

Oh, Doctor Freud…….

Paging Dr. Freud.........paging Dr. Sigmund Freud!