David Broder in the Washington Post of September 28, 2008, writes an opinion piece entitled "McCain as the Alpha Male."
Since the term "alpha male" comes out of primatology, and I have known many males who qualify, I feel like commenting on Broder's observation
"... an imbalance in the deference quotient between the younger man and the veteran senator -- an impression reinforced by Obama's frequent glances in McCain's direction and McCain's studied indifference to his rival."
Looking at the body language of the candidates, however, I did not come away with the same impression. A confident alpha male chimpanzee would never show studied indifference. I have seen such behavior only in males who were terrified of their challenger. Chimpanzees provoke higher-ups by making impressive displays in their vicinity, hooting loudly in their direction, and sometimes lobbing objects at them to see what happens. Will the other startle or will he return the challenge? It's a war of nerves.
A self-confident alpha male just approaches his challenger and sets him straight, either by attacking him or performing a spectacular display of his own. No avoidance of eye contact: he takes the bull by the horns.
It rather is the hesitant or fearful alpha male who avoids looking straight at the other, sidesteps him as if nothing happened, ducks when objects fly, and just hopes that the other will give up and go away. This may work, but also signals weakness. One day, the challenger will pick up courage and do something more drastic, such as hitting the old guy's back. If the latter still tries to ignore his challenger after this, he's toast.
I read the body language between McCain and Obama as that between a senior male being challenged by a remarkably confident junior one. The senior didn't know exactly what to do. He avoided eye contact and body orientation, probably realizing that a direct confrontation might not go his way.
If McCain was an alpha male, it was an incredibly insecure one.
In another primatological reflection, a year ago I wrote about Hillary Clinton as alpha female, stating that only post-reproductive females will likely be successful securing massive support, since they pose no sexual competition to other females. McCain's choice of a female running mate of reproductive age obviously violated this rule, and it doesn't surprise me that she now has more support among men than women. In fact, the logic of sexual competition would predict that the former support will erode the latter.
Seeing an older male paired with a much younger female sets off red flags in the heads of many women, so that for McCain and Palin to appear side-by-side may be problematic. This is another major drawback to his choice of running mate, since appearing together is a critical part of political communication. It show others who your coalition partners are. Male chimps who are united groom each other, walk together, display in synchrony, all of which tells everybody else "we stick together, don't mess with us." This is relatively easily done between males, and such bonding has indeed been on display between Obama and Biden, two differently aged males with mutually understanding smiles and back slaps. Following the debate, Biden was on TV to praise Obama's performance (not unlike the way chimps hoot along with their heroes from a distance to signal support), whereas Palin was nowhere in sight.
It may be hard for McCain to avoid the appearance of being a loner.
For a recent interview (8 September, 2008) about the comparisons between primate and human politics listen to CBC's "The Current" (scroll down to Part 3: Political Primatologist).
My statement about McCain's rather obvious alpha male behavior toward Obama (also that of Bill Clinton - an UBER alpha male) is not intended to be a treatise on the nuances of alpha behavior patterns. However, I would agree with Dr. de Waal that McCain's alpha behavior is that of a distinctly INSECURE male in the process of being challenged by a younger - perhaps stronger - alpha male. Note that Biden, another older alpha who lost when Obama challenged him, is now supporting him.
However, my point is - the press & online media need to get off these distracting topics. Our nation & these candidates need to focus on this one question -- how are sufficient revenues going to be raised to pay the HUGE 2009 bloated budget + bailout guarantees??? A budget that is bloated with military spending requested by the DOD/Pentagon - full of 'pork' for military contractors (aka Welfare Kings) I might add! The answers to that question is of the
I listened to the debate on radio, so I missed the visual clues completely, but what came through for me was more a big dog/little dog interaction. Big dog says "Hi, I'm relaxed and confident. Nice day." Little dog says "Yap yap yap yap I'll bite your kneecaps off!"
I noticed how creepily like Bush McCain's pseudo-folksy-with-a-whiney-undertone vocalizations were. Hearing but not seeing also brought out the changes in tone -- toggling on "emotion" for stock phrases, going all quavery over anything including the word "veterans." How many times has he misted up over that bracelet?
When Obama said "I have a bracelet too" he sounded disgusted. He was patient with the little dog, but sometimes you say "Woof!" just to stop the hysterics.
What will happen if McCain becomes president at the historical moment when Bush has made the presidency into a de-facto dictatorship? What will be McCain's incentive to control himself once he has made the sale? Do we really want a hothead militarist to lead us at a time when Bush has destroyed our foreign relationships? Do we really want to fight another war because of somebody's "gut"?
What was it that John McCain was so angry about? What was Barack Obama's offense? Was it just that he is the nominee of his party to be President? Is that worthy of resentment bitter enough to kindle anger?
John McCain's moment was in 2000, but he was too unstable at that time to win the Republican nomination over Bush. Too bad--- he might've done better than Bush, or he might have lost the election to Gore. His moment is past. He is flickering in and out of senility. He should retire to Sedona and write his memoirs, and try to maverikize the Republican ideology. He is not going to be President.
"Well, I'm wearing the underwear of a Private Smith..."
"Well, I'm wearing his mother's thong..."
LMAO!
I would classify that as an alpha-male display for sure.
old vs. new; past vs. future; experienced vs. tempered; angry vs. graceful ... I think I relate to Obama's bracelet!!
Obama - Biden 08 - let it be!
I also have to wonder if he was not feeling shameful for all the lies he told about Obama....its one thing to lie about some one , but to lie about someone and have to face them ...with the chance of being called out in front of millions is another thing all together.
McCain is a disgrace, his campaign is a disgrace, his VP choice is a disgrace(I actually feel sorry for her...almost, till i remember her snarky additued she came out with.must say, what an additude adjustment she made.)
how can one be trusted to meet with leaders of foreign countries who's policy he might oppose ...if he can not look them in the eye? How can we trust him to be diplomatic abroad if he can't here at home.Who is better suited to represent America.......Obama.