Presidential Debate Analysis: Complexity and Simplicity Meet Up in Florida

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Movement Analysts Karen Bradley and Karen Studd offer the following analysis of the October 22 Presidential debate:

The final presidential debate was, on a movement level, a complicated affair. We observed two men with very different styles, struggling with those styles, trying to overcome some of their natural inclinations, and, in the end, revealing a great deal of who each is, authentically. In that sense, the debates were as internal as they were between the two.

President Obama was strongest when he kept his focus, which at times was clearly on his opponent and at other times on the moderator or the audience. His gaze was alert and occasionally forceful. Throughout the debates, Obama has become both narrower and more grounded. He can still be too comprehensive, complex and professorial, and he did so at times this evening, We also observed him working to keep this preferential mode in check.  He showed a capacity for precision and decisiveness in many of his responses. Two or three times, he opened up and was able to flow with his ideas, but he also had moments of hesitation or pauses while he decided how much to answer or what words to use. 

Governor Romney had moments of integrated intensity (some might say passion) but these often also had urgency. He had a tendency to interrupt his thought and to embellish it or to jump to an adjunctive idea. A few stuttering initiations at times added to a sense of rushing urgency. Romney varied his gestures this evening, often using an in-to-out gesture rather than the top-down gestures that had typified his earlier debates. He began with more integration of voice and body, lost ground throughout, and then ended with a clarity that had been elusive in the interim.

On the whole, President Obama is a complex thinker and mover, trying to be simple and clear and Governor Romney is a simple thinker and mover, trying to address complex ideas. Both can get lost in their own struggles with those ideas; losing the audience as well. Each can overcome those tendencies, at times.

Tonight, President Obama achieved simple, clear direct messaging throughout the debate. Governor Romney struggled to be clear, only achieving clarity at the very end, in a well-rehearsed brief speech delivered directly to the camera.

Additional note: After the debates, each man, on camera, has a moment with his wife. Each time, Barack Obama has embraced Michelle Obama fully, and she him. Mitt Romney and Ann Romney exchange a brief kiss. The degree of intimacy revealed is different in each couple. What does this mean? It depends on the observer: some will feel uncomfortable with the exposure the Obamas give to their warm partnership; some will feel judgmental of the formality of the Romneys cooler partnership. What does this reveal about their potential presidency? Please consider these revealing moments and think about how you, as a voter, would like to see these different styles applied to interactions with diplomacy.

Karen Bradley and Karen Studd are both Certified Movement Analysts in Laban Movement Analysis. Bradley is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland. Studd is Associate Professor of Dance at George Mason University and is affiliated with the Center for Consciousness and Transformation at GMU.