226 I Can Read You Like a Book D
In watching Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) address the
Senate relative to the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, she showed
a lot of incongruous body language. It looked as though she had
determined that a static posture behind a podium wouldn’t work for
television, so she threw in a few arm gestures that had nothing to
do with honest expression. That’s not to say her words weren’t
genuine, but the artificial movements subtracted honesty points from
her presentation. Similarly, her voice and words occasionally came
across as incongruous. The most pronounced disconnect was when
she said, “You don’t have to thank me,” in relation to the efforts to
renew the legislation. Her pause at the end combined with a lilting
pitch conveyed the exact opposite message: “I’ve done something
important. You really should be thanking me.”
Senator Boxer also reverted to steepling when she didn’t know
what to do with her hands. This is a posture with the fingers out-
stretched and touching; an upward point displays confidence and a
downward point displays supplication or deference to another per-
son. Which posture did Senator Boxer adopt? Supplication.
In all fairness, we shouldn’t leave the discussion of Senator Boxer
without noting that she pulled most elements together and projected
real passion in speaking about her own proposed legislation, the Count
Every Vote Act. Her illustrators were hitting her words in the right
place, or, in lay terms, her gestures matched her words and emotions.
The endless campaign
“We should have done it,” is what Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
responded when Bill O’Reilly challenged him on July 20, 2006, about
