Yesterday, on his last day in office as Governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour pardoned, granted clemency or early release of 203 prisoners. Although some of these individuals have already been released, today a Mississippi judge has blocked any additional inmates from going free. In this image, we see Gov. Barbour a few years ago being visited by then President George W. Bush. Haley's Hand is rotated inwards about 40-45 degrees - and partially on top of Bush's hand, thus this is a subtle to moderate dominance display. It is obviously not as overtly dominant as the completely palm-down handshake used by so many alpha males of the political persuasion, but it's a definitive dominance display none the less. You can bet President Bush got the message.
It is very possible that the highest office holder in a modestly populated southern state is accustomed to being very dominant to essentially everyone he meets and re-meets. Ergo, he may be oblivious to the dominance message he's sending to the President and leader of his own political party. It's also possible he's deliberately and very consciously doing so - although this is considerably less likely. Deliberately or not - negative repercussions still result - as the recipient is another human being with a very human brain, psyche and ego. It's one thing to project dominance to a subordinate or perhaps, in the right setting, someone you perceive to be a peer. It's quite another to send similar signals to your superior. Governor Barbour was probably very unaware he was "one-upping" President Bush. Being ignorant of your own body language and the signals you're sending can be very detrimental to your career. Bruised anyone's ego today?
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