obama's palmartouch

Politico reports on how the president likes to touch people up. On the arm, or the shoulder, or the back - to make a connection, express warmth, but also to control and even  - very subtly - intimidate:

During his visit to the White House press room last week, Obama responded to a Politico reporter’s unwanted question with a verbal rebuke — and a series of shoulder pats so emphatic as to be audible. Although Obama was clearly annoyed, Navarro (a body language expert) adds, the gesture was conciliatory, rather than aggressive. “You didn’t see a closed fist or a pointed finger,” he says. “It was what we call full palmartouch.”

A scribe who personally received a hand-on-shoulder talking-to from the then-senator on the campaign trail says that the message was mixed. He says he knew Obama was irritated but that the Touch felt “confidential” and that he also had the sense that Obama was trying to connect with him.

The contact, he said, “seemed to have a twofold purpose — to express his annoyance and also to convince you that you were wrong.”

Comments

[Rob H]

Reminds me of the 'touch' that Joe Biden took last week when he made his comments about Justice Roberts' memory. Obama was distinctly unimpressed.

[ejoch]

How very Lyndon Johnson!