"...Except Obama!..."

"Except Obama!..."

To make meaning of out the little moments in life, context is everything. I personally have always found this to be true in my various observations of American life when I decide I want to share those observations with my U.S. History students during class time. In the wake of yesterday's unspeakable tragedy in Arizona where a member of America's Congress was gunned down; in a moment in my U.S. History curriculum where we are just about to begin our Mock Senate unit of study; I decided I just had to post this blog entry on a lighter note because of how I find it to be both a humorous and clever first-amendment act by an ordinary American citizen who is exercising her right to free speech.



To my knowledge, this moment came about as a result of newly-elected Speaker of the House John' Boehner's wish that the entire text of the U.S. Constitution be read aloud publicly on the floor of the Joint Chambers during their first meeting of the new 112th Congress. This, apparently, has never happened before, or at least it is not in the Congressional Record, according to some pundits.

So, as you can notice in the video clip, the lady's loud burst of shouting cannot be heard audibly unless you really crank your speaker volume, so here is a paraphrase of what transpired during that moment:

Congressman: "...and no person, unless a natural-born citizen, shall hold office as President..."

Smart-aleck Citizen who interrupts the reading of the Constitution by shouting at the top of her lungs while said Congressman is in mid-sentence: "...Except Obama!"

Congressman: (stops abruptly and bangs the gavel very forcefully due to the rude but very clever and very loud interruption by the random woman) "...The Chair will remind visitors in the Gallery that they are here as guests and should therefore be respectful viewers of the proceedings!"