Facing Off With the Candidates

Congenial, even downright folksy, the former Senator from Tennessee is never in a hurry, whether it's to declare his candidacy — or his true feelings. Like Huckabee, Thompson's facial expressions come on and off his face naturally, with relative ease. Nothing stays the same for long. The smiles are there when he says "I figure I couldn't play the role wrong" regarding a script where he would be asked to play himself or when he espouses running out of concern for the world his young child will face. Then again, Thompson's brow knits in a sign of displeasure when he discusses China's trade policies or expresses his contempt for the government's handling of Katrina, and the pressed lips of anger appear when he says that unlike others, he won't "apologize for America." In other words, with Thompson the words are on-message and the feelings are on-emotion. Despite his protests to the contrary from the man who dubs himself a "citizen-politician," it would seem that we have in Thompson a consummate politician. His lack of formal training as an actor doesn't mean he can't act, in every sense of that word.