I noticed in this he does that little distracted grin as he looks away, like he is so delighted in the cleverness of his coming thought. He does this a lot. It sets up an expectation in the viewer that he is about to say something really clever, a real zinger, or a major insight. You actually find yourself wanting to conspire with him - you start smiling in anticipation. “Oh this is gonna be so good. Obama’s got that twinkle.” But then... nothing. He just says more nonsense academic speak, dressing everything up to sound deep and intellectual when the actual content is completely pedestrian and obvious, or just empty political rhetoric that flows well to our ears because Hollywood has taught us that is how a wise political statesman should sound. I think he has these rhythms so memorized that he could just read Lorem Ipsum and all the pauses, eye glints, smirks, uhs and ums, would all be perfect.

Barry has a higher demon.

I agree. That should’ve been everyone’s first red flag with him...he’s too polished. But these personality types often are which is why they make good actors...they have no identity of their own so they can easily become whatever it is they think people want them to be.