Scott McClellan is not the first Bush insider to write an expose of the disaster that is the Bush presidency, but he is the most surprising. James Hoopes, author of Hail to the CEO: The Failure of George W. Bush and the Cult of Moral Leadership says that Bush is the target of more tell-all books than any other American president including books by former terrorism czar Richard Clark, Treasury secretary Paul O’Neill, and David Kuo, former head of Bush’s faith-based initiatives.
Scott McClellan was the ultimate loyalist: the good soldier who admired the way George Bush had drawn together a bipartisan government in Texas and began serving as deputy communications director back in 1999 when Bush was still Governor. As press secretary he dutifully did his job as presidential spokesliar (® Stephanie Miller) but if you looked carefully you could see he wasn’t cut out for that job. Unlike Ari Fleischer, who was smooth and silky as he delivered the cooked-up messages given to him by the Bush White House, McClelland was stiff and visibly uncomfortable.
This week his new book, What Happened, was released. The book reveals his inner struggles as he grew to realize that he was being used as an unwitting pawn in the White House game of power and deception.
Scott McClellan (2/14/1968) was born with the Sun conjunct Mercury in Aquarius, the sign of the radical – the revolutionary. The seeker of justice who desires a change of the status quo. McClellan talks about wanting in the early years to be a part of the change that Bush said he would bring to the White House and admired the bipartisanship that Bush brought to Texas. These are classic Aquarian values: idealistic and willing to sacrifice one’s personal needs for the greater good of mankind.
McClellan’s chart shows Jupiter and possibly the Moon in Virgo. Virgo is the sign of work and duty, and Jupiter in the chart shows where we find meaning in life, what makes us feel good, and in Virgo there is a powerful need to be useful – to be helpful and to serve others. Clearly this was a powerful influence in McClellan’s life and exemplified his role as loyal soldier for the Bush administration.
However, like everyone born in the mid to late 1960s, Uranus (revolution and radical change) and Pluto (death and rebirth) were conjunct in his chart. If you remember the 1960s, it was a tremendous time of cultural change and those born during this time carry that archetype within them. They typically find themselves in situations where they are forced to end a phase of their life that no longer serves them (Pluto) and begin a new life that is completely new (Uranus). In McClellan’s chart these two powerful planets form an opposition to his Mars, which as the planet of war represents his drives and desires. This shows that his ability to defend himself and assert his needs (Mars) is under stress and that he has a great deal of difficulty in these areas.
For McClellan, Mars is in Pisces where it tends to lose its aggressive nature and instead submerges in the will of the masses. Pisces, a sign of the water element, blurs boundaries and erodes defenses just as the ocean does. This is an individual that tends to lose himself in causes and has difficulty defending himself and we see this echoed in the challenging aspect (square) of Neptune in his chart (the ruler of Pisces) to McClellan’s Sun, an aspect that tends to dissolve one’s sense of one’s Self and can indicate an individual who tends toward martyrdom and can therefore be used as a scapegoat.
Over the past few years McClellan has been going through a series of powerful planetary cycles. Beginning in 2005, transiting Pluto began to form a square to Uranus and Pluto in McClellan’s chart. The square to Pluto is an intense time that occurs in everyone’s life in their late 30s or early 40s that challenges us to let go of situations, people or events that are holding us back. Often there are power struggles, intense emotions, family conflicts or other situations that force us to make changes in our lives that will serve to empower us. When combined with a square to Uranus, life becomes more explosive and the need for change much more urgent. This major cycle continued into 2007.
In 2006 transiting Pluto began a series of harmonious aspects to McClellan’s Sun and progressed Mars, helping to facilitate the transformation within him that was already underway. The transit to progressed Mars would have given him the courage to begin to stand up for himself in a more assertive way and begin making changes in his life. When he resigned in April of 2006, transiting Mars was in challenging aspect to Mars in his chart and the Uranus/Pluto conjunction that opposes it, providing the energy (Mars) McClellan needed to begin making real changes in his life.
At the end of 2006, after his resignation, transiting Saturn began a square to his Sun and Neptune and McClellan likely began feeling a letdown after the excitement of the big life change that had just occurred. Saturn transits cause us to feel heavy and somewhat depressed, and it is during this time that McClellan began writing his book.
Currently, transiting Uranus is just beginning a major cycle that will further facilitate the changes in his life. Uranus is the radical revolutionary, and McClellan seems to be operating much more independently now than ever in his life. From now until the spring of 2010 his life will continue to change in ways he cannot now imagine. But more importantly, his radical and revolutionary act is likely to have repercussions in the American political system for years to come.
