At the 2009 International Association for the Study of Dreams conference in Chicago, author Richard Russo presented a talk on a play that the Northern California Dream Institute had presented on people’s dreams of Barack Obama.
It is my understanding that the dreams were taken primarily from the website, “I Dream of Barack: Real dreams real people have of Barack Obama.” Comments about these dreams and a link to a content analysis of the dreams can be found at a companion website.
The presentation, one of the best at the conference, captured the hopes people had about the new President, and clearly captured the projections that people had on him.
Kelly Bulkeley, one of the major researchers and commentators on dreams and politics, had this to say (in 2008) after he looked at the 100 dreams about Hillary and Barack:
The dreams also reveal the flaws and weaknesses people perceive in the two candidates. In several of the Hillary dreams the dreamer feels compelled to lie to Hillary, to hide from her the dreamer’s true feelings, sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of pity. This can’t be a good sign of the trust and honesty people feel in relation to her campaign. With Barack, people’s fears revolve around his failure to live up to their expectations; in some dreams he disappoints them, leaving the dreamer feeling deflated and alone. The soaring idealization of Barack’s candidacy carries the risk of precipitous disillusionment as he attempts to make real the mystical aspirations of his supporters.
I would note that Slate Magazine(in 2008) presented an article on dreams of Sarah Palin that also gave the flavor of what people were projecting on her. (This article apparently received e-mails saying that liberals complained about the article because it was about dreams, which are apparently “frivolous.”)
