When we train spokespeople how to do interviews we have a section on body language. In it we often show a clip of a well known Hong Kong CEO chuckling as he announces a round of layoffs, as well as some of the headlines and comment that were generated as a result. The message is that how you act is as important as what you say. Sometimes it is more important. And courtiers' body language can be as important as a spokesperson's.

I was reminded of this when I read a post that Atlantic Monthly correspondent James Fallows, now based in Beijing, wrote on his blog after watching the Iowa caucus coverage. Remarking on Hillary Clinton's post-caucus statement after Obama's victory, Fallows noted the gulf between her optimistic words and her team's hangdog appearance:

To me, the scene on camera drowned out anything she said in her statement. She, a trouper, managed a convincing-enough smile and acceptably jaunty "the fight's just begun!" tone. The staff around herself simply looked ashen -- even though as pros they surely recognized that they were on TV just like her, even though as pros they must have known how forcefully body language speaks. One just to the left of her chewed gum grimly and desperately through her speech. Another, to the right, made me think of a family member at an accident scene. (Let me not be coy about this: when looking at him I thought immediately of the stricken face of Bobby Kennedy's loyal aide Frank Mankiewicz forty years ago when he announced at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles that Kennedy had been killed. It's macabre, but it's the visual connection that immediately came to mind.)

And Bill Clinton!!! Who managed a wan smile but for seconds on end stood motionless, as if traumatized or stuffed. Better than anyone else in the country he must understand the situation.

So much for the veneer of inevitability. Generously, fatigue might have had something to do with this. But if you want people to believe your candidate is inevitable, act confident. Not arrogant, but confident. Even in the face of adversity and fatigue. See also Fallows' related post on the power of presidential oratory.