The Weiner Disconnect
The recent spectacle of Huma Abedin Weiner once again, standing by her man, as husband Anthony Weiner continued to shoot himself in the foot regarding his NYC mayoralty candidacy with his continued inappropriate on-line behavior, is an interesting study of the disconnect between what we see and what we hear.
55% of communication impact is based on the visual, and while Ms. Abedin declared in her statement this week that, "I love him, I have forgiven him, I believe in him and, as we have said since the beginning, we are moving forward," her body language spoke differently. During Mr. Weiner's opening statement, she stood next to him with hands clasped, and often looked down, or away, and swayed nervously with her shoulders hunched. Once it was her turn to speak, her words reiterated her devotion, but her stance was unsteady, her hands shook, and her upper body became concave. It was almost as if she were trying to convince herself, as she attempted to convince the voters of NYC, this matter was strictly "between them." To listen to the pundits in the media, she was far from convincing. It was a brave, but unnerving performance with an almost schizophrenic split between the vocal and visual.
Contrast the uncomfortable image of the Weiner "woe-begones" with the masterful job the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Will and Kate) are doing as they rebrand the royal family from wilting to "with it!" Tuesday's joyous photos as they emerged from St. Mary's hospital with the newly-named Prince George spoke volumes - the footage of Prince William putting his new son in a car seat and then strapping him in the back of the royal SUV, just like any other dad! He even drove the vehicle home himself with a demure and relaxed Kate sitting behind him beaming over their first born - just like any other set of new parents, except father and son are in line to the throne of Great Britain. Few words - just visuals "told" the story. We share their joy and eagerly anticipate the next chapter in their young lives.
Anthony Weiner, despite urgings to drop out of the race, still believes he's next in line to occupy City Hall in New York. Even with the latest "sextmate" coming forward to share excruciating TMI, his loyal spouse continues to profess her devotion to making this happen. Judging by Huma's sad statement, however, it would be quite pre-mature to measure the windows at Gracie Mansion for new drapes just yet. If she would look at a tape of her statement with the sound off, even she might think it's all over.