This signature Romney pose\u2014eyes softened, mouth closed, sometimes in a Mona Lisa smile, stomach slightly out, shoulders slightly slumped\u2014has always struck me as a benevolent, kindly look. If he\u2019s looking on as other people speak, it seems he\u2019s doing so in admiration, perhaps like a proud pastor letting his flock speak from the pulpit. That would jibe with what Maureen Dowd refers to as \u201cRomney\u2019s image of himself as wise, caring, smart and capable.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the Republican debates, Romney, Sarah Kaufman wrote in the Washington Post, would often \u201clean an elbow on his lectern and, with the mild, slightly wincing smile that is his default expression, he\u2019ll settle in to listen. (Is that the consultant in him, keeping an open mind? Or is it the missionary, hoping to find common ground and then swoop in for the conversion?) .\u2026 Stiff, yes. But not cold\u2026. This man wants to be involved. He has the missionary\u2019s tenacity.\u201d (If so, this gives new meaning to \u201cthe missionary position.\u201d)<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the problem: Romney had the same look on his face right before he famously and physically laid into Rick Perry for accusing him of hiring \u201cillegals\u201d at one of the debates. Grabbing Perry\u2019s shoulder and refusing to let Perry interrupt him, Romney was no wimp or weenie. He was aggressive, he was bold\u2014as he\u2019s been in other debates and can be on the campaign trail. Yet, when it was officially Perry\u2019s turn to speak, Mitt returned to the same mild mien that I had taken as benevolence and kindness. (See the episode here.)<\/p>\n
Mitt may well have vast reserves of both qualities, but they are not necessarily what his passive posture reveals at all. Elspeth Reeve may be right when she writes that when Mitt seems to be making goo-goo eyes at others, he\u2019s really just expressing \u201cboredom and contempt.\u201d<\/p>\n