I dream that I am in a mathematics classroom. Obama is the teacher. He’s got simple equations on the blackboard, but everyone in the room is calculating them incorrectly. I explain to him that I can’t make the numbers work correctly. He walks me through step by step. He tells me that some times people with math problems get mixed up with the symbols of calculation. He tells me that sometimes people with dyslexia get mixed up on the apostrophe’s and question and exclamation marks and it stops them in their tracks. He shows me how to remove them so it doesn’t stop the train of thought.

From Laura, a late-thirties American woman with no interest in politics prior to the 2008 election.

She had this dream on January 23, 2009, just a few days after the inauguration.  “I will say up front, that I barely knew the difference between a Democrat vs Republican – wasn’t interested in politics – and avoided heated political debates. I barely held an opinion about our President, whether he was doing a decent job or a poor job, I kept my opinions to myself.  It wasn’t until this past election year, when I turned on the television and started watching and listening to the debates (with great assistance from my friend H. who has an amazing understanding of politics).  It does surprise me that once I started paying attention to the political debates on television, and watching election coverage, that I began dreaming of this man [Obama]. I’ve looked over my dream journals [which she has kept continuously since 1993] and there isn’t one other reference to a political figure….ever.”

Laura adds that during her school years she always struggled with math and now wonders if she has undiagnosed dyscalculia (a learning disability that is to math what dyslexia is to reading).  In light of this background, her dream portrays Obama helping her in exactly the way she most needs it.  The teacher setting of many Obama dreams merges in this case with the hero/savior quality of his personalized instruction.