America’s Struggle with Success

Political analyst Dick Morris described the tone-setting importance of initial presidential debates, “The late, great media consultant Bob Squier used to analogize candidates’ first meeting in debate to grade-schoolers’ first day in the schoolyard. Just as kids rapidly decide on a pecking order based on who can beat up whom, so the candidates take one another’s measure and get elated or depressed based on their conclusions. That psychological hangover lasts for the entire campaign.”¹ Beyond that the first debate tells us who believes he should be president and who doesn’t.²

Let’s examine the first debate between Barack Obama and John McCain on Sept. 25, not so much for what we heard but for the deeper signals, the subtle messages that reveal the real truth of the matter. We’re interested in the “blink mind’s” take occurring in a millisecond while the conscious mind lags behind. Commentators talk about what their (limited) conscious mind perceived, but what did the “blink mind” of millions of Americans see? Who established a pecking order and how? The following leaps out at us.

Obama frequently referred to McCain as “John” while McCain continually referred to his opponent as “Senator Obama.” If we’re looking to see who looks and sounds presidential and who isn’t, we will naturally gravitate toward that man who used more dignified language, thus declaring that he’s the one ready to assume that high and lofty office, the position that earns him the dignified title of “Mr. President.” Language always operates on two levels, literal and symbolic—and the “blink mind” (the deeper intelligence) reads and communicates symbolically. One could read the younger Obama’s attempt at familiarity as presumptuous over-familiarity. (Obama’s presumptuousness was also evident several other times as he repeatedly uttered the phrase “when I’m president.”) Round One of the schoolyard fight seemingly goes to McCain who continually rebuffed Obama’s first-name efforts.

Reading a bit more deeply we find another important message. The job of being president demands that a person separate himself from other men and lead, make the hard decisions, the courageous decisions—the middle-of-the-night decisions with the fate of the country riding on them. We can read Obama’s familiar “John” as being unable to separate himself from his Senate colleague, an inability to tolerate appropriate distance—a subtle reminder that he’s not yet ready to be the man and vulnerable to being too dependent on advisors. Of course, given his traumatic past beginning with a father who abandoned him, Obama predictably has major separation issues.

Obama’s first-name obsession led to another unconscious confession. Twice he slipped, calling McCain, “Tom” and on another occasion, “Jim”—as if to tell us that his intimacy with McCain was phony. By implication, he’s admitting that his apparent intimacy with voters, an image which he has worked overtime to cultivate, is equally false.

On several occasions Obama turned to directly confront McCain. Yet, McCain never once looked at him, continuing to smile, standing erect, looking at his audience or taking notes. Because he refused to visually acknowledge Obama, McCain appeared to be the one in charge, like the CEO in the boardroom who has all eyes on him.

On the other hand several times when McCain was on a roll discussing Obama’s faults, Obama kept raising his hand appealing to the moderator (PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer) as though he were a student in class asking permission to speak. Later, when Obama shifted tactics by simply speaking over his opponent’s comments, McCain never once gave into him, and Obama eventually backed off. Another striking pattern of submission.

Eight or more times, Obama said, “John is right” or “I agree with John,” both of which could be translated as “John is right for the job, not me”

Barack Obama continues to warn us that he has come too far too fast, that he has a success problem—which would unquestionably come into play in his presidency. Remember, in these carefully crafted political responses which play into all debates, only brief “blink mind” communications will reveal the real story.

So who won the “blink mind’s” playground battle in front of 52 million spectators? Reading key body language, presidential-type behavior, and the language of the deeper mind, the “blink mind’s” view was that one man blinked and one didn’t. One man stepped forward—the steely-eyed John McCain.

Summary

• Revealing Obama statements during the first debate underscored his belief McCain was the man for President
• Obama repeatedly communicated in his body language the same message
• John McCain confirmed both in his body language and behavior toward Obama in first debate that he should be president