I mean, he's giving a speech at an American Legion convention. He's not giving the Sermon on the Mount!
As for the man's general body language, he's all weird, angular, awkward arm and hand movements. For me, they evoke a couple of adjectives: pretentious and self-conscious. What he telegraphs to me is that he doesn't quite know how to behave in this national candidate role, so Kerry's doing what he imagines a presidential candidate should do rather than what comes naturally to him.
The clearest example of this, to me, is the day he took that boat ride and decided to act out the Leonardo di Caprio "I'm king of the world" scene from Titanic.
I have the same reaction to the jock-of-the-day photo ops. Kerry seems to be working overtime trying to convince everyone that he is a vigorous, fit, youthful 60-something man. As a result, even when he's at an airport, he's got to be photographed playing catch. I could buy the image he's selling if it were just a few such photo ops centered on one or two, or even three sports. But the jock-of-the-day stuff just comes off as pretentious and self-conscious — as someone who believes the image he holds of himself is not adequate for a presidential candidate.
The other thing both the jock-of-the-day photos and, indeed, Kerry's entire "I'm a war hero" campaign telegraph strongly to me is this: Kerry is not just competing with GWB as a political opponent, but as a man. To me, Kerry seems to be trying to be more GWB than GWB. It's as though he's trying to say to the public, "You may like George Bush, but I'm an even better George Bush." Strange. Very strange.
"To me, Kerry seems to be trying to be more GWB than GWB>"
I think that is pretty perceptive.I hadn't thought of that, but I think you're right. Flip that (sorry) and try to imagine GW trying to emulate another person.
I mean, he's giving a speech at an American Legion convention. He's not giving the Sermon on the Mount!