I would normally think that President Obama would fare better in the
PR reaction to the You Lie outburst than he has done.
It's quite a step away from the normal D.C. discourse and generally
such changes end up hurting the one who crosses the line.
However, the "YOU LIE" directed at the president from the angry
congressman from South Carolina is treated as being representative of
the national anger felt over this proposed change. I suspect the
anger is less about the change than the general direction of the
country, as in we are all poorer and more likely to lose everything
with this economic downturn.
So the crazed congressman gets a pass, as any ruffled feathers
actually only helps him with his base.
But George W. Bush really benefited from the shoe thrower, because he
kept his composure by smiling through the aerial assault and he
successfully ducked the projectile, twice even. It was cute,
brilliant and quite a nice little news story on a Sunday, as I
recall, as weekend's need stories with legs, and this had legs, video
and flying footware. The hated lame duck still had some moves and a
little grace to laugh it off.
Meanwhile, with You Lie, the strongest image was of the Pelosi head
snap. Ouch.
We'll see if this is the beginning of a new era of truly cutthroat
politics, or if this was an aberration of the normal civility.
But I think the 'outburst' was more planned and staged, unless the
congressman could only assume the chief executive was a liar because
he comes from a state where that is absolutely true as the governor's
South American affair and subsequent exposures has proven that
honesty in that top office is long long gone.