HuffPo has a precious slide show up of Obama and his

[tblue37]

daughters over the eyars. How sweet to see a family that openly and honestly expresses their love for each other at every turn. Michelle is in there, too, but the slide show is mostly of Obama and his girls. I notice most that whenever they are looking at each other, they are all smiles--huge smiles!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/obama-parenting-pda-slide_n_142625.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

Contrast that to Bush or Cheney or McCain around their family.

Obama is a hugger. He is open to people. People reach to touch his hand, big smiles on their faces.
This is very very very good.

btw, "hugging and touching" other people is something that has gradually been discouraged over the past 15 years, I have noticed. It is like a persistent subtle message of "be distrustful, don't get close".

[tblue37]

2. Yes, I have noticed how distant the Bushes and McCain's are

with each other. After McCain's concessions speech on Tuesday night, I noticed that he walked right past Cindy without touching her. He seemed then to realize how bad that looked, and so he stopped and sort of hugged her, but without using his arms at all. (I know his arms are in bad shape, but he managed to use them in that picture where he is hugging Bush.) When he “hugged” Cindy, he just leaned into her and let her put her arms gingerly around him for a brief moment. Then they put a significant distance between them as they stepped forward to face the crowd. As they went off the stage, McCain very, very briefly acknowledged his mother, but Cindy walked right past her without even glancing down at her, much less greeting her or touching her.

When the Obamas were on stage, they were always hugging each other tightly, looking into each other's eyes and touching, and I could read Michelle's lips saying, "I love you" as they hugged. They kept checking in with and being affectionate with their daughters, and when the Bidens and Michelle's family came on stage, they were all very huggy and affectionate. Then, as they left the stage, Michelle and Barack were totally enchanted by Biden's youngest granddaughter. They kept looking down at her and smiling widely, commenting to each other about how adorable she was.

It is obvious to me that there is a lot of genuine love and sweetness there in the Obama/Biden group, but that the McCains are physically uncomfortable in each other's presence and in the presence of others. I was amazed to see Cindy walk right past her mother-in-law as if she were invisible, without even glancing at her.

Similarly, I have always noticed that the Bush families are not very affectionate with each other, and that W and Laura barely seem to tolerate one another’s presence. I can’t count the times I have seen pictures of her hurrying ahead of him as they leave a place. When they do touch, it seems staged and uncomfortable, just as it does when John and Cindy McCain touch each other. But when the Obamas look at each other—whether one or both parents looking at one or both daughters, or Barack and Michelle looking at each other—it seems as though the rest of the world disappears and only the beloved one is there for that person at that moment.

I am always touched to the point of being choked up whenever I see that lovely family interacting with each other. These are real people, wonderful people.

[amdezurik]

1. it will be so nice having real people there

as opposed to a dysfunctional family of drunks and liars...