Deconstructing Obama, Pt. 4: Alpha Dominance Revisited
I had actually planned to do this post next week after some more installments of the Renaissance Man series, because it seems like each Obama post I do causes me to shed subscribers by the boatload. I thought maybe it would be better to space out my Obama analyzing posts as a result. But Politico.com today touched on the topic I was planning to discuss so I decided to bump it up on the schedule and do it now instead as it may become a hot topic.
A few months ago I did a post about dominant male body language, using Bill Moyers as an example. You can find the link here. I suggest you take the time to click that link and watch the video in that Moyers post before coming back here, since it relates to today’s Obama’s discussion.
You back now? Okay, I was reading conservative blog Ace of Spades a short while back and came across this post, which had this CNN video of Obama embedded in it:
Now the first few minutes are the typical fellating of Obama that today’s reporters routinely engage in whenever fawning and flattering asking him hard questions and speaking “truth to power.” But look at what happens at 3:20 when he gets irked at a reporter’s questions (something that happens more often than the media tells you; he pretty much hates any challenging questions). Notice how each time he dresses down the reporter, he gives him a slightly condescending shoulder pat.
A powerful domination tactic is showing a willingness to touch the other person at will, among other things. A good rundown of alpha male body language can be found at this site (emphasis added by me):
The body language cues the dominant person uses are these:
- Directs and controls the conversation.
- Freely asks questions and expects a response back but gives little or no self-disclosure.
- Stands with hands on hips, elbows out to sides. Takes up more personal space that way and wants to look bigger.
- Stands or sits taller than others on purpose.
- Freely interrupts others speaking. (Others don’t interrupt.)
- Long pause when answering a door knock, or replying to someone. Makes others wait.
- Freely touches others. (Others don’t touch back.)
- Will stare at others and demand attention. (Others don’t do the same back.)
- Never breaks eye contact first. Others usually break eye contact first by looking down, signifying submission.
- Occupies a bigger personal space and crowds others on purpose.
- Takes the lead purposefully when walking and going through doors.
- While sitting, will put hands behind head, put feet on desk, remove eye glasses and put ear-piece in mouth, or turn chair away from others and stare out window.
- If not well socialized, will eat and talk at same time while others can’t eat.
Even though I only emphasized the habit directly relevant to this video, I have seen him use other techniques on this list at different times, especially on Youtube, pretty much the only place to see any video of Obama portrayed in a negative light along with conservative blogs. The media filters out anything unflattering or calculating about Obama and carefully cultivates a wholesome, “aw shucks” folksy image for him.
As I’ve stated in part 1, part 2, and part 3, Obama nakedly uses more calculating power, domination and public relation techniques than any other public figure I’ve seen in a while, either consciously and deliberately or unconsciously and unwittingly, and I don’t think he gets away with being called out on it due to his subtlety or guile so much as the media working overtime to continuously manage and soften his image. The problem is that with the blogosphere, talk radio and Youtube, the mainstream media doesn’t have the near-monopoly on image management of public figures that it used to, so it should be interesting to see the alternative views of Obama that rise to the surface during the next four years.
Do check the Politico link for more examples of Obama using touch to gain control of discourse, as well as differing expert interpretations.
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Yeah the US media definitely shows a narrow segment of reality. That said I would expect a leader to be somewhat Machiavellian and dominant. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s good he’s showing the strength of resolve that so many doubted he had. One thing is certain, he is a rhetorical and strategic genius. Enlightening post as always T. I like the Bill Moyer’s post as well. I’ve thought about highlighting it on my site as well.
alphadominances last blog post..Could Humans Become Parthogenetic? Why Culture Needs Men.
I like that you tried to do something different here, but I’m still not buying it. I think you and Politico are grabbing at thin air here. 3 thoughts:
1. He continues to compare himself to Lincoln to avoid the obvious (and potentially polarizing) comparison to MLK.
2. He made the mistake of answering any questions in this video clip. He’s getting a tour of the media area, not having a moving press conference. Tough questions get answered on the podium, not in the middle of a crowd.
3. The Michelle Obama factor has been largely ignored. If anyone’s a narcissist, she is.
Obama nakedly uses more calculating power, domination and public relation techniques than any other public figure I?ve seen in a while…
I mean, maybe in this country. Certainly not in other parts of the world.
dcheros last blog post..Relationships, A Guy?s Perspective: Entering Relationships
My view on Obama at this point parallels AD’s: You’ve pointed out some media-ignored facts, and I agree with your interpretation, but not with the implied value judgement. He’s probably the most intelligent, calculating, dominant president we’ve had since the sixties or earlier. Lately the dominant ones aren’t very intelligent, the one intelligent, calculating one wasn’t very dominant.
So I agree with your evaluation of his character, but I think it may be just what we need in the Oval Office.
I would actually agree with you if he wasn’t such a socialist or just not such an enigma in general. If he had a clear-cut ideology I could get behind combined with those calculating Machiavellian traits I’d feel good about him. However it does bother me to see such a rabid cultlike devotion and all-around pass from the media that he earned by writing a decent autobiography and saying the words “hope” and “change” and “yes we can” a lot, and what little we do know about his ideology troubles me. That being said, the Republicans did deserve to lose this election for losing their way and having an awful strategy.
Great point, that was a mistake on my part to phrase it that way. He’s got nothing on people like Putin and some South American dictators.
T.
Good point on the Repub’s deserving to lose. They have really lost their way. What ever happened to fiscal conservatism and small government? They still use these as a rallying cry, but their policy does not support these ideals.
I also despise fundamentalism in all of it’s forms, whether Christian, Islamic or other. One of the founding tenets of our country was freedom of religion. This can only be allowed if no religion and no religious views have any place whatsoever in legislation. Morality cannot be legitimately legislated except according to the golden rule, the do no harm principle.
I personally identify as libertarian, and I don’t advocate big government and spending, but I also don’t advocate the abolition of well constructed social programs that make us a civilized nation. Now ours have issues certainly, but that doesn’t mean we should allow our helpless elderly and children to die in the street.
I see the function of government being to collect sufficient taxes to fund non-profitable, but socially constructive enterprises like infrastructure, safety-nets, education, defense and the like. Neither party represents this stance. Both are predicated on continual growth of the governance machine. Both are basically shills for the monied classes that fund their campaigns by and large. The two party system is fucked.
As for the cult following Obama, in a lot of ways he’s like JFK. He’s young, charismatic, and the first of a group elected to office. JFK was the first Catholic, Obama the first racial minority. He is also highly Charismatic. It’s rare to see this confluence of attributes in a candidate, but I think the biggest factor in his popularity is a result of the backlash from the economically devastating policies of the Bush administration. People are looking to be saved, so they rally to a perceived savior. Nobody could live up to the expectations being put on him, and he won’t. Not to say he may not do a fine job, I suspect he will, but you can’t turn the economy around with the wave of a wand, it will take time and hard sacrifices by all of us.
alphadominances last blog post..Could Humans Become Parthogenetic? Why Culture Needs Men.
“He?s probably the most intelligent, calculating, dominant president we?ve had since the sixties or earlier.”
I’m not sure how you can determine that already. If he responds to major crises in the coming years with ridiculous responses and makes horrible decisions, is he “the most intelligent…” President? I think we should probably wait to see him actually make decisions before we crown his ass. He certainly appears calculating and dominant, but I don’t think that his intelligence level is to-this-point above-and-beyond what any other President might have had – they all go to Ivy League schools, they all have impressive pedigrees. Most of them at least have some experience (which Obama does not) which goes along way in developing “intelligence.”
I think the jury is still out.
Also, in the past 40 years, let’s not forget that Nixon and Carter probably had the best intellectual “resumes.” More than any other Presidents, those two probably entered the White House with more things in their past that would indicate their “intelligence” and intellectual superiority. How’d they work out?
T – I think your subscribers are already 10 less than last night… I think it was at 272 when I stopped by last night…Maybe I’m wrong. People are losers if they unsubscribe because they disagree with one post, or with a group of 3 or 4 posts.
PrivatePiggs last blog post..Obama Ended ?4 Wars? in His First Week; Rosa Brooks Repeats bin Laden?s Talking Points
A little daily up and down fluctuation of 10 or more subscribers is normal, even when I don’t post anything new for weeks. I think it may be a glitch in the system, but it’s not really proof of any specific negative backlash as it happens regularly. The loss of 150+ in a day though was definitely out of the norm.
I’m seeing this a bit differently. I see two men (Obama and Moyers) who start out in these exchanges with an enormous surplus of status, which makes them free to project the dominance they already possess.
That poor producer had to invade Moyers turf (Moyers is surrounded by sympathetic people) and try to intimidate him with a camera, when Moyers has spent years in front of one. Moyers has a huge name in the journalism biz; the producer has little.
And Obama — sheesh! It appears to me there were a large percentage of people in this country (and at least 95% of journalists) who have been waiting for years to vote for the first reasonably-qualified black man for president. (Makes one wonder in retrospect what the vote would have been for Colin Powell if he had run, combining as he would have the Great Liberal Aspiration with a nominal Republican branding: 55% of the vote? 60%? Is Powell kicking himself right now for letting GWB win the prize in 2000?) The romance of Obama’s presidency–the sheer escatalogical, beatific ecstasy of it all — well, why wouldn’t Obama be expansive and all back-slappy around those guys, while little puddles of urine form at their feet?
I also think its terribly interesting that the women, unlike most of the men, seem fairly comfortable being in the presence of … The Presence. And that just reinforces everything you’ve been saying, doesn’t it.
If the country ever wakes up hung-over from the Obama dream, will Obama stil be the manipulative genius you say he is, or will he blow his top and get whiny? Frankly, when has he ever not had everything handed to him? Do we have any idea how he handles frustration? Does he? I’m not optimistic. His (and his journalist enablers) best strategy is: don’t let the dream end.
Fred?spheres last blog post..Credo
alphadon?t advocate the abolition of well constructed social programs that make us a civilized nation. Now ours have issues certainly, but that doesn?t mean we should allow our helpless elderly and children to die in the street
I agree 100%.
Questions T:
Are you just a little jealous of Obama?
What do you think of Micheal Stelle?
I dunno Chic, are you jealous of every politician you ever critique?Honestly though, I don’t know what that has to do with anything. First off, I would never EVER want to be president. Also, his wife seems very high maintenance and a handful to me, not really my cup of tea. In general being President seems like a very high stress, low reward job that one has to be incredibly idealistic or power-hungry to want. I think it’s the latter in Obama’s case.
But even more importantly, let’s say you were right and I was jealous. Not just slightly jealous, but rabidly, INSANELY jealous. Consumed by jealousy even. What does that have to do with the substantive content of my argument? Would it magically make my analysis, speculation and cited facts wrong? It’s a classic diversionary debate tactic to focus on the motives of the person opposed to the substantive merit of his argument. Whether or not I’m jealous of Obama or not has nothing to do with whether my discussions of him have merit.
Michelle Obama is fucking brutal. Seriously nasty.
PrivatePiggs last blog post..Obama Ended ?4 Wars? in His First Week; Rosa Brooks Repeats bin Laden?s Talking Points
?
T’s original response had more anti-Michelle in it. It appears it was edited. I was responding to that. But she is super ugly. Like a Klingon.
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Yeah, I was a little harsh on Michelle Obama’s looks in my original comments but then edited the comment because I thought it was a little excessive. But yeah, it would be hard to be jealous of a guy who’s married to Michelle Obama. She really is hard on the eyes.
[Translation: chic noir reaches out to give T. a patronizing pat on the shoulder, sees the gleam of cold, bemused contempt in T.'s eye, and pulls back his hand.]
Fred?spheres last blog post..Credo
“What do you think of Micheal Stelle?”
I think the way you write his name shows you are not very literate.
her hand darling
“wrote his name”
I guess we can say the same thing about you.
grammer vs spelling.
In this case, “write” would be just as correct as “wrote,” assuming that you still write his name incorrectly. It’s not like your misspelling was just a little off. If you had been just a bit off (if it was clearly a typo, for example), I might have considered it a typo and thought you “WROTE that wrong” (as in past tense, not present). But you spelled it so horribly I can only conclude that you actually think it is spelled that way, and continue to spell it that way, thus forcing me to conclude that you “WRITE” it that way, and that you “WRITE it wrong.” Thus, it would be correct to say “the way you write his name…” Again, it’s in the present tense assuming you continue to “write” his name that way.
PrivatePiggs last blog post..Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay – A Review
And it’s “grammar.”
I’m an asshole, I know.
PrivatePiggs last blog post..Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay – A Review