Conventional wisdom is that the nation is poised to abandon the right and move to the left.  Convention has no idea how literal that wisdom is. 

Politics aside, it is now certain that right-handed President Bush (43) will be suceeded by either a left-handed President Obama or a left-handed President McCain.  A recent Washington Post feature story briefly examines left- or right-handedness among presidents and presidential candidates.  It notes, for example, that Presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush (41) and Clinton were born southpaws (although Reagan did convert to the right hand).   Most interesting is that every Democratic nominee since 1992 has been a lefty when it comes to handedness, including Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Obama. 

It’s interesting as a point of trivia, but the question the article doesn’t ask is if it’s telling on points of governing styles.

Every high school student of biology was taught that the left side of our brains control the right side of our bodies and vice versa.  Some studies have cast doubt on this, but if true then left-handed people are right brain dominant.  So what, you say?  The dominance of one side of the brain over the other is thought to be associated with certain abilities and behaviors that voters may want to consider in making their choice.

Conventional wisdom – there is it again – suggests that left-handed, right-brained people are associated with the following:

• Use feelings instead of logic in decisionmaking
• Focus on the big picture instead of the details
• Apply imagination instead of facts to problems
• Act based on what they believe rather than what they know
• Present possibilities instead of forming strategies
• Act impetuously and take risks instead of practically and safely

 

Forecasting how a McCain or Obama Administration would govern on the basis of their left-handedness may be folly, but reviewing what we already know about them through this lens is interesting. 

For example, Obama does paint pretty pictures with words, which does seem to confirm the theory that left-handed people are imaginative big picture types.  His repeated opposition to the war despite dramatic improvements there does seem to confirm that feelings drive decisionmaking.  His audacity of hope does seem to confirm he’s more inclined to present possibilities than to form specific strategies.

Where McCain is concerned reports of his temper flaring throughout his congressional career seem to confirm the theory that left-handed people have an inclination to act impetuously, and his reputation as a maverick does seem to confirm he’s a risk-taker. 

It seems fairly certain that whichever of these two left-handed candidates is elected president, and if this theory holds, we will not have a knowledge-based, fact-driven, detail-oriented, practical planner in the White House.  if that prospect scares you there is this to consider:  Ralph Nader is right-handed.