The loosening of sexual images and public displays of affection subtly affect how we interpret a candidate's behavior. We expect more intimate revelations about their personal lives, so we allow them more physical contact. Bill Clinton is a big hugger of both men and women, and his most famous hug was of Monica Lewinsky on the rope line. We watched it over and over again until the television networks all but wore out the videotape. Women, as we all know, have been gloriously liberated, but the old sexual images still work best in the clinch.
Spontaneity takes practice, and a candidate has to work at looking sincere in good visuals.
Ed Muskie was bounced out of the presidential race in 1972 when the television cameras caught a tear on his cheek as he denounced an attack on his wife. He tried to say it was a snowflake, but we knew better. He was a man ahead of his times. Nevertheless, and like it or not, it is the intellectual and emotional illusion that our culture has become. Nobody can kiss that away.