I go somewhere with Barack Obama. When we return, it turns out it is only Obama and myself in the van. He is driving and I sit in the far back of the van. I realize that I have a chance to have a conversation with the President of the United States! I move up into the front seat. I ask him if we can talk- he tells me that is fine as long as I don’t mind listening to Cheryl Crow. We talk for a while. He makes a wrong turn- even though the GPS told him to go one way, he chose to go another way. He admits his mistake to me. I am impressed that he admits his mistake. We arrive at a cemetery, which turns out to be the destination we were seeking. At the entrance (we come in the back way, instead of the front where the GPS would have taken us) there is some huge animal that tries to eat the van. It is black and huge and has a mouth that will fit around the van. It may be a bear? We are both nonplused by this and we enter the cemetery, after waiting in line. I am amazed that the President just waits in line like the rest of us. What a cool guy. We are hungry, and drive through some place and it turns out we have a rear guard that gets a sandwich for Obama. We then take a nap. I then leave the cemetery alone, but I notice that the guys who are whipping monuments with cranes about the cemetery don’t care if they hit you or not as they rearrange all the monuments in the place. They are mean. I dodge a giant monolith and slip away.

From a 59-year old male lighting director from California

The man said the dream, which came on Nov. 11, 2009, gave him a secret understanding of what it’s like to be a powerful person like the U.S. President.  “I already admire him [Obama], but it gave me a feeling that this man is real and to be trusted.”

Obama makes a wrong turn–his critics and supporters alike can see the metaphorical possibilities here!

Attacked by a huge bear–by the economic downturn and bear market? by the animal aggression of his opponents?  by Nature itself?

A highly memorable experience of personal intimacy is a recurrent theme in many dreams about politicians, not just about Obama but in dreams of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, too. 

At one level, these dreams provide an index of a politician’s charisma and personal appeal.  Every politician tries to create an emotional bond with his or her supporters.   The more people have positive dreams of personal connection with a politician, the more likely he or she has succeeded in forging that emotional connection. 

At another level these kinds of dreams can be seen as liberal wish-fulfillments portraying the unconscious fantasy that Obama is their “cool black friend,” a charge raised during the 2008 campaign by Republican opponents scornful of the naivete and idealism of his followers. 

From the vantage of archetypal psychology, to dream of a special moment of intimacy with an extremely powerful, almost mythic figure suggests an encounter with the deeper forces of one’s own psyche.  Whether one uses spiritual or scientific language to describe those forces, they spontaneously emerge in dreams in the form of symbols and metaphors that grab conscious attention and prompt reflection on one’s life in relation to wider networks of meaning and power.