White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gave a lesson in how to manage a potential blow-up yesterday with one little Tweet.
As you might have heard, US Vice President Joe Biden got caught by an open mike after introducing President Barack Obama, who was about to announce the passage of his historic health care reforms.
“This is a big f—-ing deal,” the gaff-prone VP said in the President’s ear, loud enough to be audible on television. Gibbs’s Tweet? “And yes Mr. Vice President, you’re right…”
There were probably more articulate ways for Biden to express his excitement, but it’s funny that the media, which is filled with experts in the art of explicit language, loves to jump on a politician who lets one slip.
We love it when Tony Abbott says something is “bullshit”, or when Kevin Rudd says to the ALP’s factional bosses: “Don’t you f***ing understand?”. Political commentators write long analysis pieces about what it means when one of our pollies stray from the text book.
The headline on news.com.au this morning about the issue is: “Obama’s day of glory almost ruined.”
The President has just signed a Bill no one ever thought he would get through the Congress, which will revolutionise the United States’ notoriously inequitable health care system, and one F-bomb could ruin it all?
In the US, there was a bit more perspective. Even Fox News couldn’t find a reason to rail against the VP, saying his outburst was “on par” with the party atmosphere at the signing.
If Biden had said the fierce opposition to the legislation was “retarded”, however, things might have been a bit different.
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