On calling the President a Liar

It may be of no consequence that Representative Joe Wilson (R - SC) called President Obama a liar on national (no -- global) TV last night, during Obama's speech on health care. But my blood ran cold when he did.

Events like this indicate that we're approaching some kind of crossroads. Either that, or our political processes and our pomp are evolving before our eyes: as this Newsweek post points out, such interruptions would be considered child's play in Britain's House of Commons, where the Prime Minister has to face sometimes angry, confrontational questions in weekly sessions. Perhaps we're moving in this direction.

Or perhaps we're coming apart at the seams. Decorum exists for a reason: it projects confidence and stability at the helm of government, no matter how fractious and internecine the conflict behind closed doors. But when an elected Representative calls his own leader a liar, on television, in front of millions of viewers -- something leaders of both parties acknowledged was way out of bounds -- then the system seems in danger of cannibalizing itself.

I would have been astonished no matter who called the President a liar, and no matter who the president happened to be. But because Barack Obama is an African American man, in a room populated mostly by white men, it seemed to me that a little bit of mob mentality spilled over the decorous bounds inside of which presidential speeches have always been safely held. The fact that Joe Wilson hails from South Carolina added to the chill in my blood.

I don't consider rough politics out of bounds. I don't consider Barack Obama beyond reproach. I don't consider all Republicans bad people (I vote for them sometimes). But moments like this disturb me deeply. It makes me wonder anew whether the animus against Barack Obama is heightened because many cannot stomach the thought of a black man being president. And it reminds me that, when times get tough, civility is one of the first things out the window.

Two nights ago, I was at a ballgame with my son and my parents (see post below). We were two rows behind the visitors dugout. To our right, a man was hurling the most vile invective you could imagine at Eric Patterson of the Oakland A's; Patterson was perched on the top step of the dugout and could clearly hear what the man was saying. The man was white; Patterson is African American. No racial epithets were hurled, but everything else was. I wondered: what made it OK for one man to talk to another man that way? Did the fan purchase a civility pass with the price of his ticket? I also couldn't help wondering: did he really, really need to scream at a black man, and figure this was both a safe and impressive way to do it? (And then I wondered: could his girlfriend -- or the woman to whom he so referred -- really have been impressed?)

Behind us and to our left, two young women (who were white) yelled obscenities at the opposing team throughout the game. There were some breaks, during which they drank beer, but generally, it got worse as the game went on. Finally, when a member of the A's was retired and the woman right behind my 14-year-old-son yelled, "YEAH! SUCK IT, BITCH!", I turned to her and said, "Look: I'm only here for another inning or two. I'd love it if, just for that brief moment, you could spare my son having to have obscenities screamed in his ear. Would that be OK with you?"

She just glared at me. I felt that if she'd had a knife on her, she'd have stuck it in my neck right then and there. My son heard her turn to her friend and say, "Why should I give a #@!!* about this guy and his $%#&in' kid?"

I see signs all around me that people are pissed off and paranoid, self-righteous and self-absorbed. Two nights ago, I saw it in miniature, at a ballgame. Last night, I saw it broadcast to millions around the world. It may have always been this way, but I don't think so.

I'm not above it. I'm surrounded by it, and it scares me.

--T.A.

Comments

[Paul]

Joe Wilson from South Carolina, is just another good old boy where in the morning these married men preach to you that there should be prayer in our schools and in the evening they are on their cell phones setting up a date with their other women on the side, hypocrisy has been bred in. I am not surprised that he felt compel to yell like he was at some Friday night game. He is a hater not a debater like most of his side of the isle.

[Baby Power Dyke]

It's good to see that others were upset enough to cause his site to crash and donate money to his opponent. That's some change to believe in.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/10/joe-wilsons-apology-to-ob_n_281772.html

[amba]

On the other hand, Obama's race is very convenient for Democrats. No one can criticize his policies without being suspected/accused of racism. (I'm not suggesting that Joe Wilson's incivility was legitimate criticism. I doubt it was a spontaneous outburst either. More likely it was a bid to be on the 2012 ticket.) That's THE big theme on MSNBC today (as much a propaganda organ of the L as Fox is of the R). That so sucks -- it's one of the tactics that makes people feel like something's being put over on them by trickery, thus aggravating the paranoia.

[amba]

A lot of conservs on Twitter, and NOT crazies, are saying Wilson shouldn't have apologized (in their wishful fantasies at least), because they believe the president WAS "lying" (illegal immigrants WILL be covered de facto because there's no test) and somebody had to say it. These people are in a sincere (if well-fanned) panic about "statism," and I think THAT has zero to do with Obama's race.

[david]

First of all, saying that Obama's race is convenient for Democrats takes nothing away from the very real peril of racism, and the very real possibility that it may be playing a role in the way Obama is confronted, and the way he was confronted last night.

Furthermore, all leadership, in all eras, in all countries throughout time, have sought to take advantage of the convenient. That this is no different doesn't make it less real or any less ominous. To merely view it cynically is to deny that racism occludes sensible judgment of Obama -- judgment that could help mount a more effective opposition, that could lead to better legislation, and that could do less damage to the perception and the effectiveness of leadership in Washington. Racism is a flame that can be fanned. Last night, I felt the heat. Like a fever, it was a heat that chilled.

My concern was not aroused by any talking head on any network with an ulterior motive or an agenda; it arose as I watched the event unfold in real time, unadorned by commentary. Not only that, in what little commentary I watched afterwards (a bunch of talking heads on CNN, followed by Larry King's interview of John McCain), the issue of race was never brought up.

Second, the non-crazy conservatives to whom you refer believe the president was lying; I believe they are wrong. There are reasonable interpretations on both sides, pointing to the fact that weaknesses in the legislation could allow illegal immigrants to be insured. Most of the CNN panelists I saw, and stuff I've read today, said they felt that could and likely would be addressed in upcoming negotiations. So saying that Obama was lying is far from incontrovertible fact. But whether or not Obama was lying does not make what Wilson did OK, any more than yelling invective at Bush, Bush II or Reagan at a similar (or any) occasion would have been OK.

If "somebody had to say it," that somebody could have done much more good for their cause by saying so in a more intelligent way at a more propitious time. I don't mind that somebody had to say it; I strenuously disagree that that was the forum and the moment in which to do so, and there seem to be many -- including about $300,000 worth of South Carolina Democrats, and virtually every leader on both sides of the aisle in both the House and Senate -- who agree with me.

[Lisa Stone]

I still can't believe that he did that.

[Seth Chalmer]

The best book I have read in years -- and one of the best books I have read in my life -- is "Civility" by Professor Stephen L. Carter. Reading this post, I think you'd like it too.

[Peter Hoh]

re. the House of Commons comparison: Andrew Sullivan pointed out today that "one thing you are not allowed to shout in the Commons is that another speaker is a liar."

[Ally]

I share your sentiments -- the sense that we are coming apart at the seams, or may be. Speaking of seams, I've given up going to professional sporting events. I don't want to spend all that money only to have my senses assaulted, by the auxiliary so-called entertainment and by the fans.

[Absurd]

Activate race card. Milk it, Milk it, Milk it.

[Danny]

I agree with all of your comments about Joe Wilson but my blood boils even more at the story of those women behind you at the baseball game. I am horrified that the woman you spoke to didn't immediately apologize profusely. I'm suddenly seeing the value of appropriate embarrassment and shame.

[karen]

i don't know if Wilson is a two-timing hypocrite that can't speak w/civility- nor do i know if i wouldn't feel as you if a Dem said such a thing to a 'Pub President.

I echo Lisa in that i can't believe he said such a thing out loud. It was wrong and i am thankful he had sense to call the President and apoligize-- and i think the Dems arm-twisting in trying to get him to apologize again on the floor was grandstanding and intent on humiliation.

i feel sad and i have to say-- i am guilty of saying the same.damned.thing to Obama's face when he claimed that no taxpayer $$$$ would fund any abortion in his Healthcare Program. I said to the screen: ~what a liar~.

I assure it was his words and tone, not his skin. Not being from any great shakes of population and not being socialized in the finer art of culture, i tend to take folks as individuals and human- not groups of people or skin.

Yet, i'm sure i'll be called the liar on that.

It saddens me. Talk about creative Destruction. I guess we are living it. It's a grey day here. Sorry.

[Rick]

I don't like that he called the President a liar. I don't like the lies told by our President.