2 May, 2004
Body Bluster

Commentators writing about Bob Woodward's latest book on the Bush White House, Plan of Attack, have noted President Bush's fascination with body language. He actually talks to Woodward about reading the body language of those around him. It's safe to assume, then, that he thinks he can make the rest of us read messages that he deliberately transmits by his own movements and manners. It's not only safe to assume, but plain to see. What could be more transparent, more insulting, than the physical "sell" George W. Bush gives us when he steps outdoors to speak to reporters — and cameras?

There it was again, after he and Vice President Cheney spoke with the 9/11 Commission the other day. There was the stride that's a shade too brisk and bold, like that of a whistler in the dark. And then the trick of starting to talk just a millisecond before the body comes to rest at the microphones, as if to suggest a paratrooper hitting the ground with gun blazing. This is body language that screams "I'm in control" so loudly it makes you feel like listening from across the street.

There was the rapid spiel to signify mental mastery, interrupted by the shrugging, stammering ad-lib to signify informality. Indeed there was a lot of shrugging and stammering, and a lot of palms-out arm-lifting in a visual "What can I say? I mean, what can I say?" There was also a good deal of silence while the President of the United States shook his head and searched his mind for a way to get from one platitude to the next. Afterward, the CBS newscaster took it on himself to instruct the viewers of this scene that they had observed a President who "appeared relaxed and confident." Maybe CBS had received an advance text of Mr. Bush's body speech, but without the text it looked like an imitation of an imitation of having nothing to be ashamed of. It was all such a struggle for him, and on such a puerile level: "There was a lot of interest in about — uh — about how to better protect America —? (pause)." His body didn't give him much help there, though it tried mightily.

The Presidential preoccupation with body language even came out verbally during those few minutes in the Rose Garden. Why, asked a reporter, had the President and Vice President met the commissioners jointly? Surely not to keep their stories straight? Mr. Bush couldn't get through his rambling, would-be glib reply without saying, "I think it was important for them to see our body language as well, how we work together ... ." All the while, he was giving his present audience a sideshow of corporal chatter: the boxer-like shifting of weight in graphic readiness for any challenge, the face that reacts to his own words as to unexpected good news (" ... answered all their questions!"), the sanctimonious spreading of the hand on the breast while the brow forms ridges of care; and still those blankly staring eyes that give the game away. Always watch the eyes.

There are people who are drawn to the aggressive dishonesty of the seediest salesman likes moths to a flame. The same people will read President George W. Bush the way he wants to be read, in spite of his multi-layered falseness, while others will resent the insult to their intelligence almost as much as the damage this man is doing to their lives. And so we have the thrill of close-fought elections. There's no accounting for taste, and there's no telling how many of America's voters will choose to keep the White House occupied by a ham actor who seems unsure whether he's really playing a sleazy politician or miming a parody of one.

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