I was outside and all of us were waiting for Barack Obama to come out and make a speech. It seemed like it was sometime during the Spring. There was a stage in front with a plastic backdrop behind the stage. I can’t remember if there was a podium. The chairs were all white fold up chairs (the kind you might see at a wedding). A lot of people were dressed really nice in tuxedo. There was a band playing. I was talking to someone next to me. Then finally Obama came out and he was greeted by a moderate amount of clapping. It seemed like a really long speech. I was on the left about 5 or 6 rows back. I don’t think I was focusing well on the speech, my mind was adrift in total attention deficit. I think i was eating some hors’dourves. All of a sudden I hear some commotion up ahead. It was coming from the first row. Everyone was crowding around. It seemed like someone was sick or something. I saw Michael Jordan standing up and lifting someone. It was Mike Tyson! He was crouched over and his eyes were sort of closed. Someone shouts out that he was shot. It was weird to me because I never heard any gun shot. Someone said he shot himself—then the rumor is that he had been shot. Must’ve been one of those silent guns. He is dead and MJ let’s him go and he drops to the floor. Everyone starts to run including me. I’m sobbing and sort of hysterical. I see Obama sitting somewhere. He looks upset and he is crying into a white napkin. Later, a woman comes up to me and tell me that the police would like to see me. I’m kinda freaked out at this point. The police tell me they just need a statement from me telling them what I saw from the crowd. I tell them. They tell me that it appears that the President had been the original target of an attempted assassination and that Mike Tyson, in the front row, had taken the bullet. They think that someone was beyond the plastic backdrop. They ask me if i saw anyone. I somehow get this image in my head of a window with a blurry figure. I leave and go to the car. I am getting ready to go home. Then later I see my father and i realize that he had come to the speech with crutches or a wheelchair. I didn’t understand why because in real life my father is fine. Then I saw Drew Peterson (a man who has been in the news lately, former local police officer charged with murdering his wives) he is somehow there and he is also in a wheelchair. He starts talking to my dad about something..!

From a 24-year old woman in Illinois, on February 17, 2010. 

She says when she woke up she felt “freaked out, but relieved that the President missed the shot.  I did feel bad for Mike Tyson, though.”

I can’t help but associate the image of Mike Tyson with his guest appearance in the 2009 film The Hangover, as a tiger-owning, quick-punching, but quirkily sentimental thug you would really not want to piss off. 

The dreamer went on to say, “When I woke up I told my mom the whole dream and she said, “well, maybe it was Drew Peterson that attempted to kill the President.” I guess if my dream had been an Agatha Christie mystery, my mother would’ve solved it before the last chapter.”

A very liberal Democrat in waking life, the dreamer thoughtfully responded to the question of whether the dream influenced her view of Obama:

“A little. It made me feel a bit nervous for him. It also made me realize how vulnerable the position of the presidency can be. How nerve-wracking it must be waking up everyday and having to trust that your life is being protected. I had just watched the day before a bunch of documentaries on Black History because it had been black history month. It made me realize how much hatred there was towards black americans. I thought to myself, “how is it possible that only about 60 years later after all that boiling hatred and prejudice, can we be totally cured as a society?” the answer is we aren’t. There still is hatred and prejudice. Even though we got a black man elected doesn’t mean that there isn’t discrimination and racism. It takes hundreds of years for most societies to heal. Not only is racism still alive, but black people in our society don’t feel completely equal yet. They haven’t completely forgiven our society for hundreds of years of cruelty and oppression and it will be a long time before we are completely healed, maybe it will never be completely healed.”

I had a strange dream a few nights ago with Obama in it… It was very realistic and it went like this ~ I was actually having a conversation with Obama face to face. In the dream I was telling Obama that I didn’t like how he was doing things and that I was very concerned about our nation. I explained to him that I had not taken the Swine flu vaccine and was “refusing” the human tracking device that they were trying to implement on people.  I explained in a very calm and confident manner that he and his team of doctors could do what they wanted with me but I was standing my ground and would fight them off. I remember feeling NO fear because I knew that what they were doing was against God’s plan and that the Lord would protect me from harm… I was telling Obama in a straight-forward manner that I believed that the human tracking device was “morally and ethically wrong” and to make it mandatory was against God’s will. Amazingly, Obama listened to all that I had to say and we seemed to come to an understanding. His face suddenly looked sad and he preceded to look down and spoke the words “Okay, then” … I watched him turn around and exit the same same way he had entered the room. After that, I woke up.

From a 30-year old man of undefined political views, on January 29, 2010

Asked to describe how he felt when he woke up, the dreamer said,  ”bizarre.. I can still visualize the dream very well. Very strange to have a dream like this and haven’t had one since then. It seemed very real.”

Such strong concerns about vaccines and tracking devices suggest a strain of conservative extremism and populist paranioa, perhaps in relation to current cultural/political conversations about the Tea Party movement and the anti-Obama bias of Fox news. 

More generally, the dream reflects a kind of political-psychological integration; to use a biblical image, the lion laying down with the lamb.  Because most people who take an interest in dreams tend to be politically liberal, I’ve heard more examples of liberals having dreams in which they find a surprising degree of kinship and agreement with conservative politician they dislike in waking life.  Here, it seems a person who is politically conservative and anti-Obama in waking life has a dream of unexpected connection with the President. 

There could be an additional level here of personal symbolism.  Perhaps the dreamer needs to speak up more directly to people in authority: to his parents, boss, minister, or anyone who wields a kind of “presidential power” over him.

The dreamer says the dream had no impact on his waking views of Obama, but I wonder.  Having had counter-political dreams like this myself (one in which I had an extended debate with Newt Gingrich), I know that afterwards I looked at those conservative politicians differently.  I didn’t suddenly agree with them, but I saw them as more complicated people and realized my previous views were somewhat narrow and self-righteous and I needed to give them more critical thought.

I would especially wonder about this since the dream was so memorable and realistic.  I don’t believe the sleeping mind creates such dreams without a reason.

I was away from home on a trip down in the states – NY I think? And I had no loved ones with me but in the dream, I knew this and it was alright. I had a sense of urgency to get to a baseball game (I don’t even watch baseball) and when I arrived at the stadium, Barack Obama was waiting for me and we entered the stadium together. We chatted freely as if we were old friends while we were trying to get to our seats. As we were going up to our seats, I realized that we were on a window-washing pulley which Barack Obama was pulling to get us to our seats. Just as we arrived to our seats and I took my jacket off, Barack puts his hand on my shoulder and stops me to say “I think we’re under terrorist attack” and we get back into the pulley thing. Just as we were descending, he said that it was going too slow and to get ready to jump because he was going to rock the pulley thing. Before I could get a grip on anything, he rocks it and tells me to jump and so I did. We both landed with a roll on the 4th floor balcony. He helps me up and tells me to stay where I am because he was going to do something and took off like an action hero out of an action film. I didn’t stay put because I felt like I needed to get to a payphone and call my girlfriend (I had a cell phone but I had left my jacket on our seats – this I recall) so I found my way out of the stadium, meanwhile thinking why isn’t the stadium full of people? And where is Barack Obama’s security detail? I managed to find my out to a nearby neighborhood where I found a row of payphones which were quite dirty, and found one that was somewhat clean. I picked up the receiver and looked at the instructions for a collect call. What I found instead was a list of instructions on how to make a call in Cantonese, Spanish, French, and German. I recall thinking “What the hell?” in the dream. And before I made my call, I woke up.

From a 32-year old Canadian woman, a dancer, on January 16, 2010

The dreamer says she woke up feeling confused by the dream.  A very liberal person politically, she says it made no impact on her view of Obama.

This is a relatively long and action-packed dream.  Though I don’t know for sure, it sounds like a typical REM dream, very kinesthetic, detailed, and lively.  At the same time, dreams like this may be more frequent for dancers than for less physically active and talented people.

The Christmas Day bomb attempt on a Detroit-bound airplane put President Obama back in the spotlight as America’s leader in the fight against terrorism.  The event also reminded everyone of 9/11 and their own vulnerability to such an attack.  The heightened public attention to terrorism in mid-January of 2010 may be echoing in this dream.

The strange window-washing pulley system is a marvelous dream fabrication, with no clear-cut meaning but many metaphorical possibilities.  Perhaps it refers to cleaning people’s views on the world?  Or standing on the outside looking in?  Or being in a precarious position, in danger of falling? 

The setting inside an empty baseball stadium is even more incongruous.  As the dreamer suggests, it’s the kind of thing one might find as a set-up for a superhero movie sequence. 

As in many dreams of Obama, the dreamer imagines having a special relationship with him.  Here, it’s friendly chatting and a kindly hand on the shoulder, plus the superhero protection.

When Obama leaves, the dreamer seems lost.  Her attempts to communicate with her friend fail, and the dream ends on a note of cognitive disarray.

I walk into a long wooden-floored building like a school house or community center. Obama is standing with others around a long table in the middle of the room. Everyone is arguing. He suddenly starts to glow with a white light, emanating first from his face but then expanding over his entire body and then enveloping the room in a quick blast. I am witnessing now as people are knocked over by the “push” and many fall into a sleepy trance-like state, slumped over one another on the floor. He helps a woman up who is overcome.

From a 34-year old male writer in California, December 23, 2009

The dreamer says when he awoke, “First, I laughed at having the quintessential Obama-spiritual dream. Then I felt both a sense of joy about the white light and also a sense of danger about the somnolent effect the light had on others.”

To the question of whether the dream had any impact on the way he looks at Obama, the dreamer says, “It made me realize I still carry projections about Obama as a savior of world politics. Also, I notice how the Obama trance in the dream could show how I have given up responsibility in following politics by believing so much in his power of redemption.”

Despite the emphasis on light, this dream portrays a shadow dimension to the widespread view of Obama as a spiritual guide and national savior.   As the dreamer himself recognizes, too much idealization can lead some people into a mindless trance that renders them incapable of acting for themselves.

I was at a fraternity party. Barack was the president of the fraternity and it was very apparent to me and him that he would soon be president of the USA. He and I were best friends around that time and I wanted to call, write, and email everybody I knew from past decades of my life to tell them that I was best friends of the future President of the USA. Also, as a way of helping him win the election, I worked with his dog and small children to explain that the camera was always on them so they needed to watch what they say and do (even though he didn’t have a dog and small children). As I was leaving the fraternity for a few weeks and I knew I wouldn’t see Barack for a while, I went up to give him a hug… but we decided to do a regular handshake instead. And, to show a bit of distance between us, we didn’t even use the secret fraternity handshake… we just did a normal one. This was my fourth dream of Barack Obama. In each one, he and I are best friends.

From a 62-year old software developer in Arizona, January 10, 2010

The dreamer said when he awoke “I was surprised that I was not, in fact, Barack’s best friend.” 

Many dreams of Obama have a vivid, highly realistic quality that can make it temporarily difficult to distinguish waking and dreaming.  The carry-over effects of such dreams add to their memorability and impact on people’s thoughts and behavior.

The dreamer here, a liberal Democrat, says the experience corresponds to his waking views of Obama: “I always liked him (once I heard his comments on the Beatitudes).”

The reference may be to Obama’s comments on March 2, 2008,  an Ohio church in which he said, regarding religious concerns about same-sex marriage, that his religious faith puts more emphasis on the moral inclusiveness of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (best expressed in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-10) than on some “obscure” anti-homosexuality verses in Romans (1:26-32). 

Although the dream came nearly a year into Obama’s administration, it portrays an earlier time in political and perhaps personal life, when the dreamer was of an age to attend fraternity parties.  Yet he is apparently aware of his current age, too, as he thinks about people to call “from past decades of my life.”

Twice in the dream he shows a sensitivity to appearances and self-disclosure, first in teaching media relations 101 to the small children and dog (!), second in refraining from saying goodbye to Obama in a way that expresses the depths of their intimacy.

The move toward some degree of distance and psychological separation from Obama may be a healthy thing for his supporters and his political movement, even if it translates into temporarily softening poll numbers.   Extreme idealization of a politician too often leads to angry disillusionment.  Better in the long term to dial back the reverence, abstain from frat bro hugs, and take comfort in the human touch of a regular handshake.

This was not a pleasant dream; it was tense.  I was somehow conscripted as a sort of temporary nanny help for Obama’s girls.  Malia had a serious dental problem that needed fixing  (I myself am in need of a bridge).  I was not able (allowed?) to take her to dentist, as it turned out,  I made myself at home and fell asleep on the sofa.  Late at night BO asked me if I knew it was nearly midnight.  I didn’t realize I had overstayed!  A former acquaintance bumped into me and pretended she needed a place to stay, which she didn’t, and I knew it was only a ruse to try to get close to Obama.  That’s all I remember.

From an older woman, January 2009

About herself the dreamer says: “I am a 64-yr-old yellow-dog-liberal Bush-hating grandmother of 3, perfectly soggy with relief and happiness about our new president. I worry that I worship him. I taped a photo of him with his family on my work computer.”

A similar theme appeared in the dream posted a few days ago (“Putting His Daughters to Bed”), in which the dreamer imagines herself as part of the Obama family’s “inner circle.” 

In this case the dreamer acknowledges her tendency to “worship” Obama and idolize his family.  This dream seems to raise questions about that waking attitude, or at least consider its less pleasant consequences in terms of hidden problems and boundary anxieties.

This was a fly-on-the-wall type of dream, where I was only an observer.  It was very short and very intense, like a snapshot burned on my mind.  President and Mrs. Obama were standing in the Oval Office, standing on the carpet with the eagle emblem on it,  facing each other and smiling.   They weren’t embracing, but were holding onto each other’s elbows.   They were so happy — and they were glowing with a golden, angelic light.  It was a very powerful image.

From a married woman, in January 2009

She explains: “I was telling my husband about this dream, and he said he also has dreamed of Barack Obama recently.   Pretty amazing, considering we are a middle-aged white couple who voted for President Obama, but we did not attribute any angelic or metaphysical meaning to him occupying the White House (at least not consciously) …  I have no idea what this means or why I dreamed it — but after I heard about your website, I thought what the heck, I’ll share it.”

Of all the Obama dreams we have gathered with mystical or spiritually meaningful qualities, this one has perhaps the most classical symbolic expression of what Obama’s rise to the Presidency has meant to his followers.  The “golden, angelic light” connects the dream to mystical visions and Christian iconography, while the central position (on the eagle-emblem carpet) in the Oval Office suggests a mandala, i.e. an archetypal image of wholeness.  As shown by many other dreams, Michelle Obama figures prominently as a vital companion of Barack’s and a powerful woman in her own right.   In this dream their bond takes on aspects of a sacred marriage, or heiros gamos, which symbolizes cosmic union and harmony.

Such is the weight of idealization Obama has carried through his first year in office.

I dreamt I was a reporter or an observer, and I was in the back seat while President Obama drove himself to an important meeting with dignitaries.  I dream I saw him wink at a Nelson Mandela, as if they were both acknowledging their positions.

From a woman in  who has a private practice as a social worker, January 2009.

It’s amusing to imagine such an exchange between two unlikely heroes who broke racial barriers to become national and global leaders.

Barack was sitting at a table with Michelle standing beside him. There were others around, aides and such, and he was already sworn in as President. Somebody introduced us, and instead of shaking his hand, I hugged him. Then I stood back and hugged him again. I don’t think I spoke, but he laughed and took my crazy adoration in stride. Then he made me the girls’ and the dream skipped ahead to me standing by a black suburban, picking up Sasha and Malia from school. I even put them to bed that night. They slept in these huge double beds, side by side in an enormous bedroom.

 From a 30-year old married woman in Minnesota, January 2009.

About herself she says, “I have wanted Obama to be president since he won his Senate seat in 2006. I work in nonprofit development raising money for ACORN and Project Vote. THERE WAS NO VOTER FRAUD! It was a dirty scheme to make the public distrustful and suspicious…lo and behold! It worked! And McCain still lost. Funny how that worked out.”"

As with many other reports elsewhere on the site, this one features a strong Obama supporter in waking life who dreams of expressing that enthusiasm directly and intimately with Obama himself. 

The apparently fragmentary text just before the point where “the dream skips ahead” makes it hard to tell what has happened to the dreamer–has she become the Obama’s nanny? or has she replaced Michelle as mother? or is she just a very close family friend?  The ambiguity may reflect the complexities of her “crazy adoration” for Obama in both dreaming and waking life. 

When a person feels so passionately about a politician, it seems likely that deeper dimensions of a person’s worldview and life experience have been aroused, so that supporting (or attacking) the politician becomes a means of expressing the person’s ultimate values and self-identity.   

Without knowing anything else about the dreamer and her personal life, we can still interpret her dream in collective terms as a vivid fantasy of safety and nurturance within the inner sanctum of American political power, a fantasy made possible (in the view of his supporters) by Obama’s rise to the Presidency.