When Barack & Hillary announced their candidacy, I watched their respective speeches on the web and within seconds felt myself able to trust Barack Obama, and somewhat repulsed by Hillary. In the media, I believe what they refer to as her ‘likability’ is actually how lined up as an authentic human being she is. As a Clinton, she’s a master politician, able to switch and slide like her husband. But unlike Bubba, there’s some way in which she doesn’t seem to enjoy it like he does. You trust his slick-willy act, don’t you? It feels like the real him. With Hillary it feels like a means to an end. Like she’s putting something on, and we pick up on it. I felt it immediately when I saw her intent-to-run speech, here.
I’ve been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s second book, Blink, which describes the feats our subconcious is capable of in assessing situations and quickly making decisions. Turns out our subconcious is considerably adept at picking up on vocal intonation, facial expression, posture and other telltale signs of a human being’s wholeness and integrity. Continue reading →
