The Bionic President

Events of the Clinton presidency can be illuminated by what Wilfred Bion called the basic assumptions of groups. The aims of a group, Bion explained, are

sometimes hindered, occasionally furthered, by emotional drives of obscure origin. A certain cohesion is given to these anomolous mental activities if it is assumed that emotionally the group acts as if it had certain basic assumptions about its aims. These basic assumptions, which appear to be fairly accurately adumbrated by three formulations, dependence, pairing, and fighting or flight, are, on further investigation, seen to displace each other, as if in response to some unexplained impulse. (Experiences 188)

Elsewhere, Bion indicates that changes from one basic assumption to another can also be brought about through intervention of the conscious “sophisticated” group. Bill Clinton's rise to the presidency was probably due in significant measure to the Clintons' ability to activate the pairing basic assumption (baP) in the American public. The pairing assumption involves a feeling of hope relating to sexuality, as well as to an expectation of an unborn messiah, in the form of a person, an idea, or a utopia, that will save the group from feelings of hatred, destructiveness, and despair.

William Jefferson Clinton was far from being the front-runner for his party's nomination when the first major scandal, his involvement with Gennifer Flowers, hit the media in 1992, complete with audiotape recordings of Clinton urging Flowers to lie about their affair. The candidacy seemed dead, but the scandal attracted major publicity, and Mr. and Mrs. Clinton appeared on 60 Minutes for their first famous interview as a pair. Hillary Clinton brilliantly assisted (orchestrated?) the establishment of a Bionian baP (basic assumption—Pairing) group that elicited great participation from the public.

The unborn messianic leader of the baP was Clinton's progressive political agenda, which gained a much wider following as a result of the sca