President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk before the start of the Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Dec. 6, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
So last month someone from Instapundit posted the above picture and asked people to comment on Obama's body language. They weren't really body language experts and then it started to get political, people stating the writer was trying to make Obama look bad, etc.
An example of this is when this poster writes, "Glenn Reynolds finds a photo in the White House Flickr basket and publishes it to, er, point out how bad the White House's p.r. is, or how blind they are to perceptions of Obama or some such thing. I tried to puzzle this one out and can just about see how an elusive photo of a tired Obama reacting to something unknowable might make him look tired or arrogant or something Read the rest of the post.
You can click on the photo to see an enlarged picture.
Without getting into the political side, here is what I see:
Notice how he holds his head back slightly. this can mean a wide variety of things from arrogance (looking down his nose at Joe), to attempting to be as far away from Joe as possible (like when someone has really bad breath).
His arms folded generally signals a lack of openness, or a lack of wanting to perform some of his benchmark gestures like when he places a hand on another's shoulder, or briefly touches the forearm.
His lips are pursed, from this position if he does open them, even slightly, it would be a sign he wants to speak...
Eyes are not open widely, in fact they are more closed than normal, which is a sign he not fully engaged.
He could be just tired but I get the vibe, that Obama is dismissing what Joe is saying and he is unhappy with the conversation.◦
Thursday, January 7, 2010
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden Photo Has Created a Storm of Problems for Political Bloggers and Body Language "Experts"
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4 comments:
I am thinking the head tilted back is a chiropractic or cultural issue with him because nearly every time I see him in print or interview, his head is similarly tilted.
It looks to me that he is actually leaning his head and body against the wall, and his arms are crossed along with his left leg crossing at the ankles over his right leg. I think he is listening while slightly tired.
Hmmmmm so someone in such a polotical point of power can tget tired without a storm happening. Not insulting your blog just the people who made a big deal about picture. Oh btw, has lie to me been cleared for a third seasn?
Yes I agree that his head tilted back is common for him. It could be that he usually does feel superior to people and therefore he has his head back and looks down his nose at everyone, or it could just be a bad habit he has of not holding his neck straight. Either, way, he does it all the time.
As an aside, I often get the impression that he doesn't necessarily respect Biden.
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