They like each other – for the most part, anyway.
That was the verdict from a body-language expert who studied every last kiss, hug, hand gesture and even eye blink by Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton as they made a show of unity in Unity, NH.
“There was a lot of touchy-feely stuff going on between Barack and Hillary,” said Joseph Tecce, an associate professor of psychology and a body-language expert at Boston College.
“It indicates to me that they have a genuine affection for each other, right now – on this day. Because this is a celebration. They were talking closely when they conversed.
“Their faces were only a couple of inches from each other.”
Both had “low blink rates,” Tecce said, meaning they weren’t blinking their eyes rapidly – a sign that they “both were very content with what was going on” because they had relaxed muscles.
But that closeness didn’t paint the whole picture, Tecce said.
“I think they both have a strong emotional connection, which surprised me,” he noted. “I’d not seen this before. But I think they both have some limited intellectual appreciation for [each other].”
The main evidence, he said, was they often had “gaze aversion” – meaning no eye contact.
Another issue was their respective demeanors when they spoke.
“When Hillary was talking . . . he was nodding rhythmically, which to me suggested that he was getting a little impatient with her going on and on, and at one point . . . I felt that she was upstaging him a little bit,” he added. “His nodding had an almost dutiful quality.”
But the same was true when Obama spoke, he said.
“When Barack was talking, she very . . . monotonously kept nodding,” he said.
“When you agree with something someone says, you episodically and once in awhile will nod your agreement. It will be a good healthy nod, [not] mini-nods.”