Ignore the words, look at the smiles (Financial Times)

By Jurek Martin
Published: October 17 2008 03:00 | Last updated: October 17 2008 03:00
Jurek Martin

... On the right we saw Rush Limbaugh on his radio show rant that Barack Obama was, pretty much, just another black radical liberal. Fox put on Dennis Miller, once a comedian, who seemed to think John McCain should kill everyone in sight - terrorists, his opponent, whomever ...

Of course, they were all wrong. I found this confrontation less about what the two candidates said and more about their demeanour, mostly their facial expressions, specifically their smiles ...

Obama grinned a lot, mostly when McCain was in attack mode, as if he knew his opponent was desperate. Some might have found it patronising but it was reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's trademark "there you go again" comment when Jimmy Carter was getting over-earnest in their 1980 debate.

McCain's attacks came at unpredictable moments. Only once did the moderator, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, give him an open invitation, when he asked about the recent nasty tone of the campaign. That prompted the assertion that he was running a "truthful" campaign, which led into the expected onslaught on Obama's association with Bill Ayers, the ancient domestic terrorist ...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c05012fc-9be2-11dd-ae76-000077b07658.html