To some extent I agree with Don there, in principle it does those things, but not too reliably - my point is that this sort of thing is a kind of acting (as Ronald Reagan demonstrated). It would be quite possible to have someone perform very effectively in this kind of situation, but be pretty clueless in reality; and the reverse is also true. It's a special sort of skill, this kind of performance.

For example, harking back to Reagan "There you go again" is a completely nonsensical way of avoiding difficult isssues - but in the mouth of an old pro, it worked.