Politics: Why Do So Many Politicians Have Daddy Issues?

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Politics Why Do So Many Politicians Have Daddy Issues? Paul Ryan's dad died at a young age. He is in good company. Political leaders often have absent, alcoholic, neglectful fathers, or fathers who died too young. By Barron YoungSmith Posted Wednesday, Aug 22, 2012, at 10:30 AM ET We've heard a lot about the death of Paul Ryan's father: He had a fatal heart attack when the future GOP vice presidential candidate was only 16. Biographical sketches cite the event as a formative early trauma that helped turn Ryan into a "man in a hurry." With the Republican National Convention days away, we will soon hear Ryan's origin story—and the role his father's death played in it—repeated and echoed many more times. The strange thing, though, is that Paul Ryan is hardly alone—American politics is overflowing with stories of absent fathers, alcoholic fathers, neglectful fathers, and untimely deceased ones. Indeed, one of the more interesting questions raised by Ryan's biography is: Why do so many of our politicians have daddy issues? The list is surprisingly long. Take Ronald Reagan, who was haunted by a moment when he discovered his alcoholic father on the front porch "drunk, dead to the world," his hair filled with snow. The 11-year-old Reagan had to drag him indoors. Or Bill Clinton, whose biological father drowned in a car crash, and who remembered standing up to his alcoholic stepfather and demanding that he never beat Clinton's mother again. Gerald Ford's father, an alcoholic, was found guilty of extreme cruelty to his family, and refused to pay child support when Ford's mother left him. George W. Bush's relationship with his father was less lurid, but infamously resentful: He spent his entire life, including ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Are GOP Efforts To Oust Todd Akin Hurting Romney? What Daenerys Targaryen Needs To Know About Occupational Licensing The Pleasures of YouTube in Three Dimensions	Advertisement
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