Significant Moments: Me and Al Gore

          More important—indeed, quite decisive for the future—is . . .
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius: The Fictitious Case of Tausk Contra Freud.
              . . . the road that leads . . .
Anna Freud, Beating Fantasies and Daydreams.
                     . . . to the apparently paradoxical situation when parents who are proud of their gifted child and who even admire him are forced by their own distress toreject, suppress, or even destroy what is best, because truest, in the child.
Alice Miller, The Drama of the Gifted Child.
          Alice Miller, Masson explained, was his only remaining supporter. "I am persona non grata in the analytic world, a pariah," he said, with the air of one stating a mildly irksome and yet somehow not unamusing fact. He continued, with a rush of words, "Analysts won't speak to me anymore. They avoid me on the street. They are afraid to be seen with me. . . . ”
Janet Malcolm, In The Freud Archives.
                 Wherever I turn I am shunned, condemned;
Richard Wagner, Lohengrin.
                     “ . . . A year ago, they were fawning on me—they were giving me huge grants, they were inviting me to speak at their institutes. But when Anna Freudand Eissler dropped me no analyst would touch me. . . ."
Janet Malcolm, In The Freud Archives.
          Word was spread that I was "difficult, verbose, and dangerous."
Gottfried Wagner, Twilight of the Wagners: The Unveiling of a Family's Legacy.

http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2009/11/significant-moments-difficult-verbose.html

          " . . . When I was fired from the [Freud] Archives, Alice Miller, who shares my ideas and therefore can no longer call herself a Freudian analyst either, was the only person who had the guts to come out for me."
Janet Malcolm, In The Freud Archives.
           She helped me through this and subsequent crises and soon became mysecond mother. Since then she has taken an interest in all the essential professionaland private events of my life.
Gottfried Wagner, Twilight of the Wagners: The Unveiling of a Family's Legacy.
          Alice Miller presently appeared—a small, worried looking woman in her early sixties. Masson embraced her warmly, introduced me, and asked her what he could do for her during her stay in Berkeley. Alice Miller said that she wanted to know more about psychotherapy in America. . . . Masson then asked Alice Miller how she was enjoying . . .
Janet Malcolm, In The Freud Archives.
          . . . the hotel.
Wilkie Collins, The Evil Genius.
          Alice Miller said in an aggrieved tone that she had gone swimming in one of the pools and was having trouble with the chlorine in her eyes; the goggles sold at the hotel hadn't worked properly. . . .
          As [Jeffrey Masson] and I walked through the lobby, he sighed and said,"Goggles, yet. God, she's kvetchy! She's like my mother. . . ."
Janet Malcolm, In The Freud Archives.
____________________________________

"Al [Gore] also turned his intellect toward an exploration of his childhood, and he did it partly by reading everything he could get his hands on. In particular, he pored over psychoanalytic works that included Alice Miller's The Drama of the Gifted Child, a book on how parents who impose their ambitions on their children can leave their highly accomplished children emotionally stunted and confused about what they want other than to please the parents. In raising his family, Al says, 'I had the benefit of seeing my own children's experience with the backlight of my own experience as a child so that"--he sighs, and pauses to pick his words--"I had an advantage as a parent that my parents didn't.'"

From a Time Magazine article dated August 21, 2000 by Tamala M. Edwards and Karen Tumulty titled: "Democratic Convention: The Women Who Made Al Gore."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,997752-8,00.html

I Googled the terms "Al Gore" + "Alice Miller" and got 8,640 hits!

Coincidentally, Al Gore and I have the same mentor: Vernon Jordan.

In 1992, Democratic Presidential nominee Bill Clinton made the following public announcement:

"Several weeks ago, when I named Warren Christopher, Madeleine Kunin and Vernon Jordan to head a team to recommend a Vice-Presidential running mate, I asked them to look for a candidate who met three tests. I said I wanted a Vice President who really understood what had happened to ordinary Americans in the last 12 years, someone who was committed to making government work again for average, hard-working American families.

I said I wanted a Vice President who would complement me and my own experiences and bring other experiences, knowledge and understanding to our common endeavor.

And above all, I said I wanted a Vice President who would be ready, should something happen to me, to immediately assume the office of President of the United States. . . .

The running mate I have chosen is a leader of great strength, integrity and stature, a father who, like me, loves his children and shares my hunger to turn this economy around, to change our country, and to do it so that we don't raise the first generation of children to do worse than their parents.

The man standing beside me today has what it takes to lead this nation from the day we take office -- Senator Al Gore of Tennessee."

Wise choice!