McCain's Body Language: He's a Hater

Many people, including the punditocracy, commented on McCain's body language during the first debate. He looked away from Obama when they greeted one another. He did not look at him once during the debate. His jaws clenched, his body was tense, his eyes were fixed forward and glared. His grins were forced, and occurred at inappropriate times. He was clearly seething.

The conclusion has been that his body language showed that McCain has disdain for Obama, and wanted to show it.

I believe that conclusion is wrong. Instead, I believe it shows that McCain literally hates Obama, and was not able to control his reactions. For example, Hillary Clinton also had disdain for Obama, but she did not hate him. She looked at him, and her body language engaged him during the debates.

McCain has written that the Presidency is not a calling to accomplish a set of goals but just a matter of his personal ambition. Prevented--one must assume by his inadequacy that he cannot admit to himself--from fulfilling his family's tradition of becoming Admiral, McCain is driven to become President, to one-up them.

McCain hates anyone, or anything, that stands in his way and, right now, that is Obama. While Joe Biden may "love the guy", McCain does not return the sentiment so long as Biden stands in his way. The media that was once McCain's "base", is now the object of his hatred. Episodes of McCain's physically attacking opposing Senators--even from his own party!--are not examples of being a maverick, but rather that his hatred can be triggered when he believes others are in his way.

McCain is also a moralizer. He convinces himself of his own moral superiority, and his anger can be triggered by suggesting some chinks in that self-portrait. FoxNews pundit Morton Kondracke recalled an episode in which McCain exploded just because Kondracke wanted the NIH to have additional funding to study Parkinson's disease--from which Kondracke's wife suffered. Kondracke concluded that McCain, whom he had previously admired, did not have the temperment to be President.

McCain could not look at Obama because the emotions stimulated by hate are frightening to the person harboring them. They are afraid of their own anger. Some of Freud's earliest cases were those of "conversion reactions", in which people who found certain situations so hateful that they actually had physical manifestations that prevented them from acting out their rage.

Had McCain looked at Obama during that first debate, his rage may have become uncontrollable.

So, what happened last night? The setting of a townhall, with a large crowd intermediating between him and Obama, might have mitigated the hatred, and thus allowed him to look at Obama...but not much. He tried to dissipate the hatred with very lame attempts at humor. He tried to play around with Brokaw. No one bought it.

Moreover, McCain seemed afraid. When Obama looked McCain in the eye, McCain looked away. McCain's usual reaction to fear--lashing out, and adopting the body language of an attacker that often makes the other person step back so as to avoid a conflagration--is unavailable to him in a debate setting, and so all he can do is retreat in fear.

McCain thought he needed a major new economic message, so he offered that the government purchase all the bad mortgages and renegotiate them with the homeowners. Barack--and the studio audience--seemed to ignore it.

Obama, brilliantly, did not engage McCain on the one topic he had prepared. Had Obama done so, McCain would have had his opening to relax his body, and sharpen his dialogue. When his idea fell flat, McCain had no plan B to engage, and so all that remained was his basal response.

"That one" is not disdain, an intellectual judgment. It is hatred, an emotional reaction. George W Bush, for all his disastrous failures, does not appear to be a hater. McCain would be a George W Bush plus hate.

Those who think McCain's staff did not properly prepare him, did not drill him on his behavior, miss the point: McCain's hatred is so ingrained, his self-congratulatory moralism so necessary for his self-esteem, that the emotions overwhelm whatever teaching he might receive. [Actually, there is a way to deal with it, but I ain't sayin' what it is until after debate #3].

At the debate's end the Obamas and McCains circulated with the audience. When Obama approached McCain with an offer for a handshake, McCain shunted him aside, having him shake hands with Cindy.

The McCains left the debate hall very quickly. Recognizing that the audience had not embraced McCain as President, McCain's reaction was to depart.

By contrast, the Obamas hung around for nearly a half hour, speaking to individual members of the studio audience--in Memphis Tennessee, that should be McCain country. Obama's reaction to those who may not like him is to engage, and to get beyond their defenses.

That, in essence, is the difference in their foreign policies. McCain was upset that the Spanish Prime Minister withdrew troops from Iraq, so what was his response: as President, he said he would not meet with him.

Who is more likely to bring a more peaceful, safer world?

[Addendum: After posting, another aspect came to mind--McCain's hatred also kept him from choosing Romney as his VP running mate. Why? He hates Romney, and all Romney stands for in McCain's mind: utter plasticity (true), hiding out from the war, no children volunteering, noblesse oblige (which, of course, McCain shares but can hardly admit to himself). On the other hand, Romney would have appeared more substantive than Sarah Palin on the economic issues--plastic though he is.]

Comments

[timm0]

He's mad alright. Furious. If not "mad" as "insane".

The man shipwrecked his primary campaign and the neo's helped him out of it. As a consequence, he went from being partially driven by neocon slime, to handing over that campaign "tiller" (that his spastic, unqualified - I mean "cool" - hands couldn't handle) to the slimers.

Now he's nothing but a tool. A tool completely in debt to his masters. And he knows it.

He's an excellent textbook-worthy example of what happens to people who betray their beliefs and morals in pursuit of power and ambition (not that his beliefs were anything to cheer too much about, but I do remember him being skewered a long time ago in front of a live audience as he defended progressive taxation - name one repug who would ever, ever do that).

[alittleskeptic]

I think there is more than anger chewing inside McCain. He sometimes seems tobe two totally different people and what he refers to as "maverick" behavior bursts from him erractically in nasty ways. Also, there is a certain cruelty about him not often visible but it has shown itself off and on throughout his career. The infamous "Chelsea" joke revealed not only an underlying disdain for women but an underlying visciousness and desperation. I believe he is actually very cold and insensitive, narcissistic and possibly emotionally unstabe rather than a mostly nice guy who just has a bad temper . He has apparently had near violent outbursts without warning, including times when he acted out physically toward POW and/or MIA groups asking for his help. It's well know how he treated his first wife when she was very ill. As he becomes more desperate in these next weeks, I his true nature may be more visible. The "that one" comment may be part of a growing revelation as to what is really in his heart and mind. The only mistake about it was his inability to keep it under wraps this time. We may respect his military, sympathize with his long imprisonment and admire some of the work his has done as a Senator. However, there is some real doubt now about whether Senator McCain really has the kind of good character and emotional statbility crucial in our next commander in chief.

[Dandywalker]

Mr Abrams, excellent article. I believe disdain is easier to hide or cover, but blatant hate is harder, and physically affect the hater when approach by this person who isthe object of this hate. People mistakenly think it is racial hatred, no , as you say, it is hatred of someone blocking what one believes is entitled too

[gc10ike]

Yes, I agree. This has been my read of him for some time now. And I think his insistence on not talking with our enemies issues from his complete inability to imagine himself looking an adversary in the eye.

[ChuckLin1]

Nailed it. McCain is a hater, and I think you're right about his trying to one-up daddy and granddaddy, without whom he'd have been less than nothing.

http://charliehiphop.com/that_one_mccain

[jp5472]

Paul - You nailed it out of the park on the first pitch! I might have even seen you point first had I not been overly multitasking this morning.

All that you point out, I have been seeing and remarking on...and have had a lot to reflect on, because I too have bought this guy's BS for way too many years. His self-labeling is peeling off like bad stickers.

His self-proclaimed "maverick" has been exposed as purely BS, even the original Maverick family wants him to stop claiming himself as one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05schwartz.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=Maverick&st=cse&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

His anger has been surfacing through the years and at this juncture, it is downright scary. His one ambition is evaporating- "I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president...In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time." - John McCain. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103032_pf.html

[JohnFromCensornati]

It was Nashville. Probably not as red as Memphis.

[AuntieAmerica]

Actually, Memphis proper is one of the bluest parts of the state, thanks to the African-American majority in town. I'd think the Obamas would be especially welcome there.

But yeah, the debate was in Nashville, not Memphis. I was going to point that out myself.

[RickO]

I think one of the lesser discussed aspects of the debate is how McCain dipped as soon as it was over. Gone, as if to escape.

In his now infamous "that one" reference, you can see that he was seething and it seemed like he said it instead of something perhaps worse that he held himself back from saying. Who knows what he was thinking but the term "that one" clearly attempts to dehumanize Obama, let alone disregard his name and distinguished title. Beyond disrespectful.

[paragrafH]

Good post, but I had two thoughts. First, it seemed from the Rolling Stone piece a few days ago that it was the lack of a war that prevented McCain from getting the cred to get to admiral. Two, it sounded to me more like a senior moment and that McCain didn't realize they were talking about Spain instread of Latin America. His chagrin at the first debate in being called out upon it was palpable. I saw frustration in his face that he couldn't deny it because it would have been exposing his mental fog.

I'm glad someone has written about the hatred. It's SO evident. You really nailed it. Again from the Rolling Stone, this man who, as a small child could hold his breath til he turned blue in a tantrum, hardly has the constitution to deal with anyone who gets in his way. Add to that the obvious PTSD -- let along a Cheny-clone running mate -- and you have a recipe for armageddon.

[Dandywalker]

I readthe same Rolling stone. Very eye opening.

[stuperb]

"Instead, I believe it shows that McCain literally hates Obama, and was not able to control his reactions."

I've been thinking about this a bit, too. I think it's not a matter of true hatred so much as of his need to *otherize*.

In my opinion, McCain quite simply views Obama as "The Enemy" rather than simply a political opponent. This is an armchair psychology diagnosis I"ve been mulling for a while, and last night"s comments confirmed it in my mind. Like a soldier who needs to view the other side as the faceless enemy in order to stomach the battle at hand, he otherizes Obama and put him in a starkly opposite, good guy / bad guy framework. I don"t think this has anything to do with Obama"s race.

[Dandywalker]

ExACTLY

[aspecialed]

What was up with the dropping the microphone in his other hand at the end of every question?

[Jocalo]

Astute post. It seems that the hate that you observe is the very thing that has justified the maverick label. If people from both side of the aisle mistrust you, the logic goes, you must be a maverick.

I have decided that from now on, anytime I act erratically, or lose my temper when I don't get my way. I can call myself a maverick and everyone will admire me for my straight talk. Just the other day, I was driving down the freeway and I had one of my maverick moments and yelled at the car in front of me.

All kidding aside, it is truly frightening to see how unstable and furious Senator McCain has been lately. The ungracious handshake brush-off to Cindy last night was shameful behavior for a grown man who was presumably taught at one point in his life how to be a good sport.

[tonys9001]

The debate was held in Nashville, not Memphis.

[Gidster]

Good article.
I noticed Obama's speech becomes stilted when he feels as if he has not engaged the audience.
but his body language does not tighten up

[ESerafina42]

Interesting - that's been my take on his behavior, even though I'm at work and have to listen to the actual debates on the radio. I don't think we've ever seen a ticket (top and bottom) driven by such naked ambition.

Slightly off the topic, I think it's been said somewhere else (maybe the Time interview from a few weeks ago), that how McCain gets beyond the cognitive dissonance of doing dishonorable things is because at his core he is _convinced_ that he is an honorable man - therefore _anything_ he does is by definition honorable. Kind of the same trap a lot of people are in about the US. We are a _good_ country - therefore we are _incapable_ of doing evil things, even when we invade sovereign nations that never threatened us (and muck it up) and torture people.

[jp5472]

Great post - I believe, after analyzing this for years, that your slightly off topic paragraph is really on target. The anger generates from people (especially McCain) so convincing themselves that nothing they do is wrong and therefore the anger just bursts to the surface when anyone has the audacity to call them on it. By definition, he has labeled himself as a maverick, honorable, etc. As a nation we are taught to believe that everything we do is right and we should just nod our heads and go with whatever we are being told. When this attitude or type is challenged, they explode, seethe, accuse, attack...