I tend to avoid aimless social meandering, but sometimes an image rolls by that says everything without speaking a word. Let’s take a look:
What makes it odd? Well, this is a campaign promo pic, typically meant to showcase the warmth and nonthreatening Americanism embodied by the office-seeker. Instead, we have an unsmiling man forced into the process, perhaps to “keep the peace” at home.
Maybe it’s a cheap shot, but does the tight-lipped Mr. Jayapal look even remotely happy? The expression signals passivity and resignation to the dominion of another person. He looks scared and restless, as if he wants nothing more than to escape the setting and play a few hours of Railroad Tycoon III, but only with the wife’s permission.
As you can see, his hands aren’t around the wife’s back, or clasping hers, suggesting a coldness or distance between them. Affectionate couples usually strive to showoff their union in public, particularly in politics. Case in point:
Trump firmly clasps his wife’s arms, and doesn’t lean away from her when posing. Whether you believe there relationship is sincere or not, it looks like one bathed in affection and admiration.
Mr. Jayapal on the other hand seems to be a prisoner of the sanctified institution known as marriage.
ECONOMIC COMMANDER 