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When Mitt Romney tells a joke, or hears something funny, it hits his mouth, but not his eyes, unless he's with people he genuinely feels comfortable with. When Obama tells a joke or hears something funny, it hits his eyes, but he sometimes has to remember to have it hit his mouth.
Humor is both personal and interpersonal. As a personal thing, humor is a way to deal with stress and conceptualize out own experiences. As an interpersonal thing, humor is a way for us to connect with others and create shared experiences.
Romney has trouble with the personal part, unless he's feeling comfortable around the people he's with. You get the feeling that he's constantly sizing up the room, and that he's constantly trying to read the people around him, and figure out what they're thinking and feeling about him, which leaves little space for having a genuine experience of humor when he's in public.
Neither candidate is actually very good at the external connection part of humor, the way that, say, Bill Clinton is. Both of them are fundamentally introverts. But Obama tends to be a little more comfortable around strangers, and therefore has the space to experience humor.
Romney can't connect using humor, because he's too nervous and cautious to experience humor. He's capable of seeing that something is SUPPOSED to be funny, and so he laughs, because it's the appropriate thing to do, but he's not FEELING it, because he's not comfortable enough to do so. Obama, on the other hand, DOES experience the humor, but he's introverted enough that he doesn't always project it, although he's getting better about it.
I think this is probably because Romney's life has been a lot more about one-on-one interaction with people he's been working with, or in relatively small groups where he knows everyone. Obama, on the other hand, has been a lecturer, a lawyer, and a community organizer, which all include one-on-one interaction, and groups where he knows everyone, but also includes more working with strangers, so he's had more practice.
So, in public at least, Obama's sense of humor tends to be more genuine (as seen in the eyes) but less demonstrative (as seen in the mouth), while Romney's tends to be the other way around.
Humor is both personal and interpersonal. As a personal thing, humor is a way to deal with stress and conceptualize out own experiences. As an interpersonal thing, humor is a way for us to connect with others and create shared experiences.
Romney has trouble with the personal part, unless he's feeling comfortable around the people he's with. You get the feeling that he's constantly sizing up the room, and that he's constantly trying to read the people around him, and figure out what they're thinking and feeling about him, which leaves little space for having a genuine experience of humor when he's in public.
Neither candidate is actually very good at the external connection part of humor, the way that, say, Bill Clinton is. Both of them are fundamentally introverts. But Obama tends to be a little more comfortable around strangers, and therefore has the space to experience humor.
Romney can't connect using humor, because he's too nervous and cautious to experience humor. He's capable of seeing that something is SUPPOSED to be funny, and so he laughs, because it's the appropriate thing to do, but he's not FEELING it, because he's not comfortable enough to do so. Obama, on the other hand, DOES experience the humor, but he's introverted enough that he doesn't always project it, although he's getting better about it.
I think this is probably because Romney's life has been a lot more about one-on-one interaction with people he's been working with, or in relatively small groups where he knows everyone. Obama, on the other hand, has been a lecturer, a lawyer, and a community organizer, which all include one-on-one interaction, and groups where he knows everyone, but also includes more working with strangers, so he's had more practice.
So, in public at least, Obama's sense of humor tends to be more genuine (as seen in the eyes) but less demonstrative (as seen in the mouth), while Romney's tends to be the other way around.