It’s a crying shaming

    Listen
    President Barack Obama wipes away tears from his eyes as he recalled the 20 first-graders killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School

    President Barack Obama wipes away tears from his eyes as he recalled the 20 first-graders killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School

    If you happened to be watching President Barack Obama’s announcement on gun control earlier this week, you might have noticed that, at one point, he got a little choked up when recalling the Sandy Hook shooting.

    The president literally had tears streaming down his face as he recalled violence on the streets of Chicago. Those on the left saw those tears as genuine emotion. On the right, the twitterverse exploded with conspiracy theories that the president was just trying to gain sympathy for his executive orders. Some quotes:

    “He is a liar and his tears are fake.”

    “POTUS cries on demand.”

    “And the Oscar goes to … President Obama.”

    And there are many more.

    Newsworks Tonight’s Shai Ben-Yaacov was joined by Maxine Gesualdi, professor of communications at West Chester University, to discuss the effect of politicians crying in public.

    WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

    Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal