A cardinal rule of proper etiquette is “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.” While this is also a cardinal rule of communications, it can be taken one step further — “If you have nothing to say, say nothing!”

With the absence of a contested election, there appears to be a temporary void in subject matter for Cable TV hosts. Last evening, virtually every cable outlet had a “body language expert” on to analyze the photo-op (reporters were not allowed it the actual meeting) between the President-elect and the soon-to-be former President.

This was not in and of itself an issue. The issue is the fact that there were no “hidden signs” or “hidden messages” being delivered, and the time would have been better utilized doing anything else, including describing what really occurred non-verbally, and that was an act of leadership.

What everyone witnessed was two very proud men, both members of an exclusive club (only 44 in history!), one whose political career to drawing to a close, and one whose political career is on the serious upswing. The race was bitter, there were harsh words, and the President-elect spent a great deal of time campaigning against the current President.

Did all of these “experts” expect a, “aww shucks, no hard feelings” routine? Or maybe a fist-fight?

From a communications standpoint, what we all witnessed were two men making lemonade out of lemons. It was obviously not an overly comfortable situation for either man, and they both put on their best face and did a fine job putting personal differences aside to prevent further polarizing the country.