U.S. President barack Obama stood grinning in front of a cheering crowd of 17,000 during a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Sunday, when suddenly a book thrown from the crowd whistled past his head.
Obama seemed to be oblivious to the book toss. If he knew that the book narrowly missed his head, he sure didn’t indicate it.
Meanwhile, police and Secret Service had their hands full after subduing a man who decided to strip completely naked at the rally.
It isn’t clear if the man was the book tosser, or what happened to his clothes. But it is clear that the man’s protest action was in reference to the children’s storybook fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” about a man — in this case, Obama — who is so narcissistic and self-absorbed that he simply can’t see his own flaws or the fact that he is being made a fool of.
I wonder if that the hurled book might have contained short stories, including the children’s classic “The Emperor’s New Clothes”?
The book throwing incident is reminiscent of the infamous shoe throwing incident that occurred at a Bush press press conference in Baghdad in 2008.
An enraged Iraqi journalist stood up and hurled both of his shoes (one by one) at the head of former president George Bush, before being immediately tackled and jailed.
Philly’s huge rally is part of Obama’s plan to reconnect with black voters and to re-energize his base that got him elected president.
Obama largely ignored black people during his run for president in 2008. Though Obama’s support among blacks remains high, he doesn’t enjoy the same level of comfort that he did in ’08 when he knew for sure that blacks would vote him. The unspoken opinion in the black community is “What have you done for me lately”?
With high unemployment and a housing crisis that is nearing the critical stage, Obama and the Democrats are attempting to avoid a bloodbath in the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 2.
Republicans need to pick up 40 seats to win power in the House and would need to gain 10 seats in the Senate to take control from the Democrats.
Governing parties typically lose seats in U.S. midterm elections, which take place in the middle of a president’s four-year term. But polls indicate that Democratic losses are likely to be particularly severe. [link]
