Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listen as President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday Jan. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Sure, President Obama had the unenviable job of delivering a 7,000-word speech to a room of semi-hostile listeners. But where State of the Union scrutiny is concerned, its Vice President Biden and Senator Boehner who have the really uncomfortable job.
For the entirety of the presidents hour-plus speech, Biden and Boehner had to maintain unfalteringly polite, attentive smiles while millions of people grabbed screenshots of every sigh or eye roll for posterity. But Biden skipped polite attentiveness and went straight for manic enthusiasm, as hes wont to do. Boehner, meanwhile, cycled through a series of understated grimaces that lit up Twitter and Tumblr Tuesday night.
Which politician looked more ridiculous probably depends on your politics. Heres Boehner:
The above photo, we should note, was not taken at this years speech though the comparison still stands. Heres Biden:
Funny as this all may be, Biden and Boehners reactions are in some circles actually considered pretty important, just like when and how much the audience applauds. Hill-watchers analyze and overanalyze these things for hints on how well the presidents policies will be received.Over at The Fix, Jaime Fuller hasa fascinating history of when all that started and how well it works. Maybe not that well, it turns out.
I have trouble engaging in such evaluations, being constantly distracted by the mime-like facial contortions, to which we will be treated by the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, Ed Kilgore wrote at Washington Monthly.
We have no complaints about said mime-like contortions.It makes SOTU screenshots all the better for Photoshopping.
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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/01/29/every-face-boehner-and-biden-made-at-the-state-of-the-union-last-night/






