Marco Rubio's Notable Drink of Water

After President Obama's State of the Union Address, much of the chatter is not about his speech but about Marco Rubio's odd duck-and-reach move for water.

The Republican Senator from Florida was in tough spot, as are all politicians who follow a president's address. But in preparing for his response, Rubio could have done a better job planning where to keep-and how to access-water if he got thirsty.

The Atlantic Wire published a play-by-play "deconstruction" of the sip:

"Then, the reach. Rubio stopped talking, but maintained eye contact with the camera and kept his head level. Out of frame, he must have been doing a really weird crouch.

"At the moment of contact with the bottle, Rubio must break eye contact with the TV audience and look at his beverage. A false move and he would have toppled the mini-bottle! So it's a quick camera-bottle-camera zag. Poor guy didn't know his nose was behind the C-SPAN logo, but he still managed to keep his eyes floating above the graphic."

This isn't the first time Rubio's presentation skills were criticized. When delivering a speech about immigration reform, he lost a page of his script and had to retrieve a copy from a staff member.

But the senator has a sense of humor. He tweeted a picture of a Poland Springs water bottle and, 17 hours later, this: 

 
Not to miss a marketing opportunity, Poland Springs had some fun on its Facebook page. But this wasn't cute enough for The Huffington Post, which noted the company's response, delayed by a mere four or so hours: "Finally! After a dry spell of more than half a day..." 

Discussion Starters:

• What could Marco Rubio have done to prevent his awkward movement?
• How do you assess his tweets? What, if anything, could he have done differently?
• How do you assess Poland Spring's response? Do you agree with The Huffington Post's assessment that it took too long?