This past week President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress and the nation to talk about health care. While health care remains to be the most debated and discussed topic of the moment, it was not the president’s address that caught people' attention. Instead, it was one comment from Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC). At one point during the address the president made the statement that illegal immigrants would not be covered in the health care plan he is attempting to push through. With that Joe Wilson yelled, from his seat in the back, “You lie!” Not only did the live audience hear it, but the millions of people across the nation watching it on television across the nation heard it as well.
Suddenly, instead of dissecting what the actual address meant to health care reform, many news stories covered the now infamous congressman and the heckle heard round the world. While many of the opponents of the president’s health care plan have stood behind Wilson and his outburst, more people have not only stood against him; they have also written checks to back it up. In the first 24 hours after the outburst, Joe Wilson’s opponent in the coming election, Rob Miller, raised $500,000. A few days later that amount passed the one million mark. Fundraising amounts that large in such a short amount of time raised by simple grassroots efforts are almost unheard of. Wilson may very well lose his congressional seat over his outburst.
Though this may be one of the most highly publicized political heckling incidents in recent history, it’s certainly not the first. In fact some of its publicity probably comes more from the fact that the healthcare debate itself has been such a strong focus of mainstream media over recent months. Wilson’s outburst could just be getting more attention than it would otherwise. How Wilson’s outburst ends up impacting his career remains to be seen, as similar incidents before have played out in a few different ways.
Shortly after coming in third in the Iowa primaries then Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke to a large group of supporters in preparation for the coming New Hampshire primary. While speaking, she was heckled by a couple of men who were yelling, “Iron my shirt.” Hillary replied, “Ah, the remnants of sexism alive and well.” She then asked for the lights to be turned on and the men were taken away under a round of applause.
A few days later, while campaigning for what was looking to be a losing battle, the New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton in a very rare moment, broke down in tears in front of the crowd. No one can know for sure if these two unscripted moments on the campaign trail actually played a part in what was a surprise to political pundits across the nation, Hillary’s win in New Hampshire in a landslide. Was it her cool reaction to the hecklers in Iowa? Her moment of humanity in New Hampshire? But for a moment it seemed that Hillary was back in the game.
Another classic heckle was at another Clinton, President Bill Clinton. In 1992 at an AIDS conference Clinton was accused of “putting ambition before true commitment.” Clinton, who had been facing hecklers at almost every rally while on the campaign trail, had had enough and told the heckler so. “Let me tell you something. If I were dying of ambition, I wouldn't have stood up here and put up with all this crap I've put up with for the last six months. I'm fighting to change this country. And let me tell you something else. You do not have the right to treat any human being, including me, with no respect because of what you're worried about. I did not cause it. I'm trying to do something about it. I have treated you and all the people who've interrupted my rally with a hell of a lot more respect than you've treated me, and it's time you started thinking about that.” Clinton’s passionate response ended with raucous applause from the audience that shut the heckler down.
In 2005 then Vice-President Dick Cheney was told by a heckler to “Go f**k himself” while holding a press conference in Mississippi during in days following Hurricane Katrina. Cheney laughed it off and continued speaking, while ignoring the heckler. Hecklers with similar sentiments were common at most of the appearances made by the president and his administration after Hurricane Katrina.
The biggest difference between these incidents and Wilson’s is that they were not official presidential addresses. Though those have happened before as well. During the 2004 State of the Union, President Bush was met with a chorus if boos from Democrats throughout the room after calling for the renewal of the controversial Patriot Act. And shouts of “No!” came from every corner during the 2005 State of The Union when President Bush called for a complete overhaul of Social Security.
It’s hard to say if the Democratic hecklers during those State of the Union addresses had any real impact, but it could be examined that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, won by an overwhelming margin in the next presidential election. It is possible this was due to the overwhelming no’s and boos were speaking for an entire country, instead of a group of Democrats in Congress.
The reality is that how much impact an incident such as Wilson’s may have truly depends on the mood of the American public. And as Wilson’s opponent’s fundraising amount continues to rise, it looks as though the current mood of American’s is for politicians in Congress to demonstrate more maturity in their actions.
