"I'm with my closest colleagues at the top of Mt. Everest. Below us on the snow, or maybe it's white sand, are thousands of bloody bodies. Suddenly, I see a line of approaching figures, armed with pitchforks and clubs, coming up the mountain. At first, I'm happy because they're carrying an American flag, but then I realize they're coming after me, led by a Toy Soldier wearing black. I turn around to figure out a counter-attack strategy with my key aides, but I'm all alone. I hear myself shout: 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!' And then I wake up, sitting bolt-upright in bed, trembling and covered in sweat."
"And that's the dream that brought you back here, Mr. President?"
"Well, that one and at my wife's and physician's insistence. They seem to feel I'm in bad shape and could use your help."
"And you? What do you feel?"
"Those times we talked before?** You made me really angry. You forced me to face certain ideas about myself that I didn't want to think about. But afterwards, I must admit, I did feel calmer."
"It wasn't me 'forcing' you to do anything, sir. You wanted to understand what was happening to you. And, in terms of dreamwork, you're actually quite good at figuring out what your nightmare visions represent. Why not give this one a go?"
"OK. Well, it seems obvious that I'm coming to the end of my two terms. A lot of my former buddies and key aides are no longer around -- either they resigned to make some real money or we were forced to ease them out for political reasons. So it's pretty lonely up there on the mountain now."
"And who are the people coming up from the lowlands that you think might be eager to attack you?"
"At first, I was going to say the Democrats, but it's more than that. My numbers these days are barely in the 20s! I'm the most despised American president ever! By nearly everyone! They loved me when the going was good, but now they just want me to go. As if it was all my fault. I didn't ride in on a white horse and stage a coup: The citizens voted me in."
"And the dead bodies, and the 'a horse! a horse!' speech? What do you make of them?"
"I guess the dead bodies on snow, no it's sand -- sand! That must be Iraq. A lot of good American soldiers have given their lives there for freedom. I feel for their families even though their sons and daughters volunteered, you know, knew what they were getting into. I continue to believe that it was the right thing to attack Iraq . The war being so unpopular, maybe that's why the citizens -- led by the Toy Soldier in black (Obama?) -- are coming after me. As for the 'my horse' speech, I spoke those lines in the dream but I don't really know what they mean, other than that I heard them once in a Shakespeare movie."
"They're from The Bard's historical play 'Richard III.' After the climactic battle, King Richard, who is something of a villainous cripple and is feared but not liked in court, is virtually all alone on the battlefield. He is so desperate to escape, he offers to exchange his crown for a horse to carry him away. But there are no takers. He's finished."
"Not sure I like where you're going with this one, doc. You comparin' me to a villain?"
"Of course not. But as your dream is reminding you, you were the President who ordered those young American men and women in uniform to Iraq. And you were the President when many of those soldiers came home in coffins or wounded and facing deficient VA care because they didn't receive their body and vehicle armor in time."
"Watch yourself, doc. Those sound like Democrat talking points to me."
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
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