You sure like to extrapolate.
Let's not apply inaccurate terms. I was very plain and did not deny the two women represented what the President explicitly described they represented.
I do not think anybody "planned" (aka "staged") the hug. They certainly did not tell them to cry.
The point that you are missing because you're hanging onto your "staged" bone is that the genuine spontaneous gesture and the genuine emotion evident in the moment gave lie to the dem/media spin that the Iraqis resent our presence.
The hug was not staged, and I doubt anyone even said "with any luck, they'll hug!". That does not ring true of this administration. Staged implies the emotions were faked. They clearly were not.
I merely understand how you put together a large TV event.
I don't think anybody planned the hug. But the facts make it obvious that someone was hoping for some display of emotion, which makes it staged.
The point you are missing is that you can stage an event and still have the specific action be spontaneous. Happens all the time, the entire world of sports, talk shows, live jazz, and political speeches revolve around that kind of loose staging.
I have no doubt at all that someone said "with any luck they'll do something and give us a great defining TV moment for the speech". That's why VIPs are selected for SOTU addresses, for their ability to provide good TV.
No staged doesn't imply the emotions were faked. Staged doesn't imply anything, it simply states the obvious, that these two people were put there and introduced in the speech for a reason.