TJ Walker, a body-language expert, breaks down the Nashville presidential debate between Obama and McCain. Obama landed forceful comebacks and consistent attacks, while McCain showed warmer moments but struggled with verbal tics, hunched posture, and slower movements.
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Foreign. We've got to fix our energy system that is putting such an enormous burden on families. You need somebody working for you, and you've got to have somebody in Washington who's thinking about the middle class and not just those who can afford to hire lobbyists.
It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies. Billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it might never know that one. You know who voted against it? Me.
Well, that was one of the more testy exchanges in last night's debate in Nashville. And it may be one of the more telling exchanges between the two presidential candidates because it's not just what the candidates say, but it's often how they say it that actually gives us more insight and helps more people make up their minds about who to vote for. Joining me now is TJ Walker. He's a body language expert and media consultant. He watched the debate last night. He's here to comment on it. So this is supposed to be John McCain's strong point. He seemed fairly facile with the information, but in the overall, how do you think he did?
Well, it is better for him than giving a speech where he's tripping over words. Unfortunately for him, he was against Barack Obama, who did a great job. McCain wasn't bad, but compared to Obama, he didn't quite measure up.
What he said in that sound bite that we just aired there, that one, how did that go over?
It struck some people as odd. I mean, you have to give Obama credit. He wasn't instantly shouting, oh, racism. But again, it just strikes people as odd whether he's saying that one or, my friends, dozens of times. There are just certain verbal tics that from McCain that you don't see from Obama. He talks about he's the steady hand on the tiller. But whether it's saying awkward phrases like that or going over notes quickly hunched over while Obama's speaking, there are just a few things off.
Well, certainly the McCain campaign and the senator had done everything they can to try to portray Barack Obama as wet behind the ears, particularly in foreign policy, not ready to occupy the Oval Office. At the White House, Senator Obama had a comeback to John McCain's attack on him for saying, you never announced that you're going into Pakistan to attack another country. Let's listen to how Barack Obama came back from that.
Senator McCain, this is the guy who sang bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, who called for the annihilation of North Korea, that I don't think is an example of speaking softly. This is the person who, after we had, we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, next up, Baghdad.
How did he do in that response? Did he redeem himself?
That was a great way for Obama to put McCain on the defensive. And then McCain's left talking about, well, you know, I was only sort of joking and he was going to tell us the joke, but didn't. That was an excellent moment for Obama because he didn't defend himself. He attacked. He did that consistently throughout the debate.
And then the McCain campaign says his best moment came when he talked with that chief petty officer after he asked the question. Let's take a listen to how that went down.
Thank you for your service to the country. I want to say everything I ever learned about leadership, I learned from a chief petty officer. And I thank you. And I thank you, my friend. Thanks for serving.
You say that that was both positive and negative for McCain how?
Well, it's a warm, human moment. You definitely felt there was affection there. McCain had. But on the other hand, when you see McCain moving, he just seems slow. He reminds me of my grandfather patting a small child on the head. So I think it reminds people of what they like about mcc. But also when you compare him to Obama, he just doesn't seem as forceful, as youthful, as vigorous.
Well, one more debate to go in, more of a traditional format. TJ Walker, thanks for coming in this morning. It's good to see you, Karen.
