"You Lie" - Joe Wilson

I’ll leave the politics to others and focus on the communications and “optics” around the president’s speech, which contained several communications “firsts.’’ During a presidential address to a Joint Session of Congress, I do not think I have ever seen:

1. The House Minority leader (Eric Cantor) check his Blackberry.
2. A member of Congress yell “You Lie!” in the middle of the address.
3. A president accuse his detractors of “lying” about his plan.
4. A president saying “We will call you out,” when his opponents continue to misrepresent his position.

In 30-plus years of watching presidential politics, I have never seen the chamber that tense and that partisan. The look on the faces of Republican House members was sullen, angry and defiant – not just about health care but toward Obama personally.

This may have been the case when Reagan spoke to Congress in the 1980s. But I always got the feeling back then that Democrats just felt helpless in the face of Reagan’s mastery of the crowd.

It is cliché now. But we have arrived – via the web, talk radio, Cable TV and blogs – at a place where it is OK to yell at the president during a speech to Congress. Where that goes politically is anyone’s guess.

My question is: when will someone in a leadership position emerge to say “Enough of this behavior.” At best, it feeds people’s worst instincts and drives respect for Congress down even further. At worst, it is dangerous.