Hillary Clinton's Speech Reveals Why She Lost (a non-partisan analysis from VIA Character Institute)

ballsalicious

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Sun Jun-08-08 07:05 AM
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Hillary Clinton's Speech Reveals Why She Lost (a non-partisan analysis from VIA Character Institute...

Edited on Sun Jun-08-08 07:36 AM by ballsalicious

by the way, anybody ready to pounce on my lack of 'unity' needs to understand that we can pull lessons from this information.

'Unity' without honesty and wisdom, will not last. Understanding Obama's success is critical to keeping the momentum toward winning the White House for the Dem's.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080608/pl_usnw/hillary_clinton_s_speech_reveals_why_she_lost

Hillary Clinton lost by a narrow margin and her suspension speech revealed why - lack of integrity. "Any careful observer of her speech noticed that when she talked about herself she smiled a true smile, and when she extolled the virtues of supporting Barack Obama there was no smile at all," said Dr. Neal H. Mayerson, Chairman of the VIA Institute on Character. (www.viacharacter.org) "Psychologists have shown us, people read body language, and, according to our survey, they see insincerity in Hillary Clinton."

An ongoing opinion survey by VIA Institute ( www.viacaucus.org ) of over 1,700 people's views on presidential character support that "integrity" has been Senator Clinton's Achilles' heal. Only 3% of Independents and 10% of Democrats surveyed see "integrity", or authenticity, as one of Clinton's top strengths, compared with 22% of Independents and Democrats who see it as a top strength of Obama.

Yet, both groups rated integrity as the third most important of 24 character traits when asked to reveal what they view as necessary for the next president. (Open-mindedness and perspective were first and second.)

"This race was neck and neck. The smiling patterns in her concession speech seem to reveal what people are telling us in our survey - namely, that she is seen as lacking authenticity, a very important quality people want to see," said Dr. Mayerson. "Were it not for our survey results, her lack of smiling might simply be attributed to delivering a difficult message. Our results regarding character suggest Obama is seen by more people as possessing the ideal character traits that people are looking for in the next president," continued Mayerson.

In another twist, Democrats called for the character trait of "social intelligence" and more than twice as many of both Democrats and Independents see this as a top strength of Obama, when compared with Clinton. Social intelligence is ranked third in the ideal category.

In terms of the top two ideal character strengths as rated by Independents and Democrats - "open-mindedness" and "perspective" - the candidates split. More people see "open-mindedness" among Obama's top strengths compared with those who see it as a top strength of Clinton, and more people see "perspective" as a top strength of Clinton as compared with Obama.

The VIA Institute on Character viacharacter.org is a world-leader in the scientific measurement of character traits. A non-profit, non-partisan organization it has developed the VIA Classification of Character and the VIA- IS Survey, a key tool of psychologists, organizational development specialists, social workers and educators in determining the character traits of their clients. The VIA Classification was developed by the founder of the field of Positive Psychology, Dr. Martin E. Seligman, and Dr. Christopher Peterson, a professor at the University of Michigan and one of the most frequently cited psychologists of the decade. Along with 55 noted social scientists, they surveyed the world's great religions, cultures and literatures to identify what is most valued in human nature and discovered 24 distinct character traits which can be identified and measured.