Throw the book at somebody: to punish or criticize someone as severely as possible. — The Free Dictionary

As president Obama tried to rally supporters in Philadelphia to staunch the rising unpopularity of his radical policies before the midterm elections, a book was thrown at him.

The U.K.’s Daily Mail reports, the “flying missile narrowly missed hitting the President yesterday.”

You can see the book fly by Obam’s head at the :40 mark in the following video:

[youtube]v=RrR17VoQwOk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

The Daily Mail provides a couple of photographs clearly showing how close the book came to Obama’s head.

Mainstream U.S. newspapers have not covered the book throwing incident, as they did the shoe thrown at President Bush, but CBS offers a video report which you can watch here.

It is not clear what the book was, where it came from in the crowd or why it was thrown at Obama. Perhaps it was an attempt to imply Obama should be punished for his efforts to lurch the country far to the left with government-controlled health care and his cap and tax energy plan which he admits is designed to bankrupt the coal industry.

Regardless of why the book was thrown at Obama, the Secret Service has some explaining to do.