Sunday, November 10, 2013

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2597: Chris Christie's Body Language Tell Regarding Obamacare (VIDEO, PHOTOS)




 
Chris Christie was a guest today on "Face the Nation". Not known for a poker-face, the Newly re-elected New Jersey Governor gave away lots of body language tells. What follows is an analysis of but one of them.

At 6:57, Norah O'Donnell begins, "Let's turn now to the President's roll out of the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare, this week he apologized ah to the American people - said he was sorry. Do you think that's enough?"

Chris Christie: "No, it's not enough, but I, I had said to him earlier, ah, last week that he should apologize, ah, and tell people that he was wrong. In fact ..."

Norah O'Donnell: "You mean you, you were the one that suggested to President Obama that he should do an interview and say, 'I'm sorry' ?"

Chris Christie: "I'm not, I don't know if I was THE one who suggested it, but I said last week that he should um, that he should, that people should apologize, and I talked about it in general in public life. When you make a mistake, you should own up to it and apologize for it. And I think people give you credit for that. Um, The, the fact is that The President didn't tell the truth. Ahhh, it turned out NOT to be true -  that people keep their insurance policies no matter what - that they could keep their doctor no matter what. And we need to confront that issue. Um and the President needs to deal with it in a head-on way. Um, that's why I didn't do a state-based exchange in New Jersey, um to implement Obamacare, because ANYONE who's managed anything or run anything, over the course of their careers could see that this was a train wreck and I was not going to get the people of New Jersey involved in this train wreck in that way ...."

During the 5:35 - 5:36 segment - as he says, "... the fact is ...", Governor Christie displays a clear expression of contempt. This was a macroexpression of relatively long duration, which was also superimposed temporally upon more subtle contempt expressions. It is most dramatically demonstrated by his left-sided "snarl-like" face which involves an upward vectoring of his mustache area and a unilateral nostril flaring. There is also a foreshortening of the left side of his mouth and a dynamic deepening of his nasal-labial furrow. The partial closure of his left eye lids also acts as a "contempt amplifier" raising the amplitude of this negative emotion.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2591: Chris Christie on Romney's Campaign Vetting Leak, Body Language Tells

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2538: Governor Chris Christie's Body Language Tells regarding Shutting Down the Government and Telling us He’s Running for President in 2016

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2174:  President Obama, Hurricane Sandy,  Body Language and Thumbs Backwards Arms Akimbo

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2253:  Governor Chris Christie's Rant, his Body Language and a  Highly Reliable Sign of Anger - and....

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2530: Tom Coburn, Obamacare and Anxiety - Body Language Tell on a Senator's Face 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2596: What Motivates Ted Cruz's Regarding Anti-Obamacare, Body Language Tells on Jay Leno
 
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2582: Jay Carney Dismisses (and is Embarrassed by) Low Obamacare Enrollment Numbers



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