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As our colleague Al Kamen notes, Attorney General Eric H. Holder over the weekend politely declined an MSNBC host's offer to "quack like a duck." (After all, who wants to see this headline: "Watch Eric Holder quack like a duck.")

But the exchange provided some insights into his demeanor and, by extension, that ofPresident Obama.

"We say you have a very sort of placid and even way of presenting, but you are just working for justice underneath," Melissa Harris-Perry explained to Holder, who laughed when told of his nickname.

Here's how Holder responded:

I was born and raised in New York City, in the '50s and '60s. And for an African American guy, the thing was to be cool, you know? You gotta be cool, things don't bother you. And so on the surface I like to think that that's the way I appear to be. But you're absolutely right, those little duck feet are just moving as fast as they can underneath and things are ... going as fast as they can behind the scenes. I may have been cool in congressional hearings on the outside, but I was pissed off a lot of the time too. It was a question of trying to rein in those feelings and make sure that on the outside I was cool.

While other politicians can fly off the handle from time to time, both Obama and Holder have rarely done so. Holder has shown more emotion than Obama-- it was very clear in a few of those congressional hearings that he was "pissed off," for instance -- but race and history and their personalities have dictated that they present as cool and professorial in public settings. It's a template that other black politicians with national ambitions will follow, until they don't.

Holder's franknessaround race has set him apart from Obama.He, for instance, framed his treatment in various congressional hearings in racial terms. "What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?" he asked at a National Action Network conference. "What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?" and then there was that whole asparagus thing.

One wonders what Holder would look like if he wasn't so intent on keeping his cool.

Video below:

(h/t The Hill)

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The Fix: Eric Holder explains his (and Obamas) cool demeanor