This is the astonishing moment a book was apparently hurled at
the head of President Barack Obama during a campaign rally in
Philadelphia.
The flying missile narrowly missed hitting the President yesterday.
It is not clear what the book was, where it came from in the crowd,
or why it was thrown at Mr Obama - who did not appear to notice the
danger.
But it is expected that there will be fallout from the security
breach as the Secret Service investigates how close the President
came to danger.
The rally was clearly an eventful one - other images showed a naked
man being led away in handcuffs by police.
It is not clear if the man was involved in the book-throwing
incident - or why he was not wearing any clothes.
He and the Democratic party know, however, that this year finds
Democrats imperiled because of what has become known as the
'enthusiasm gap', with party voters expected to stay away from the
polls.
That could be disastrous in a nationwide vote that was widely
believed to hand the majority in the House of Representatives and,
perhaps, the Senate to Republicans.
There are ample reasons for Republican optimism. Poll after poll
shows deep voter discontent and even anger at Mr Obama's and
congressional Democrats' leadership. Mr Obama and his fellow
Democrats are being blamed for the slow economic recovery and
continuing high unemployment.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics - in the last major
economic news before the November elections - delivered another
painful blow to Democrats: The U.S. lost 95,000 jobs in September
and unemployment remained stubbornly stuck at 9.6 per cent.
In another complication for Democrats, the government is expected to
announce this week that more than 58 million Social Security
recipients will go through another year without a cost-of-living
increase in their monthly benefits.
It would mark only the second year without an increase since
automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first
year was this year.
'I think the pundits are wrong. I think we're going to win. But
you've got to prove them wrong,' Mr Obama said, jabbing his finger
toward the audience.
'They're counting on you staying home. If that happens they win.'
Vice President Joe Biden joined Obama at the rally.
Meanwhile, alert Secret Service investigators traced the the book
thrower and his instigator to an obscure Hawaiian group thought to
have been inactive since the 1970s. The attack is thought to be in
protest of obummer claiming Hawaii as his birthplace and causing the
economy of the Island state to decline due to the reduction in
tourism by conservatives.
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