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Who Would You Invite to the State of the Union?
We did it, America! The nation has survived to witness Obama’s last State of the Union address. Granted, he still has 12 more months to let us get taken over by Uruguay or sign an executive order ceding all 50 states to Belgium, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
As usual, the First Lady invited a slew of special guests to join her in the gallery, a convention first popularized when Nancy Reagan invited Lenny Skutnik, a federal worker who had rescued a plane crash victim from the Potomac.
According to the White House, tonight’s guests “tell the story of the progress we have made since the president delivered his first address seven years ago.” They include Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Maj. Lisa Jaster, one of the first female Army Reserve officers to graduate from Ranger School; Refaai Hamo, a Syrian refugee who lives in Troy, Mich.; and Cedric Rowland, a Chicago Obamacare “navigator.”
But the “guest” getting the most attention is a Clint Eastwood-style empty chair, which is supposed to represent the victims of gun violence “who no longer have a voice.” (I was hoping for an empty file cabinet to represent Americans’ lost health insurance plans.)
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also gets to invite special guests. He wisely chose Sister Loraine Marie Maguire and Sister Constance Veit from the Little Sisters of the Poor. This is the Catholic order that sought protection from the Obamacare mandate on religious liberty grounds.
Ryan also invited Bishop Shirley Holloway, a DC resident who ministers to those with addictions, and a Wisconsin four-year-old named Logan Barritt, who helped raised $1,300 to send care packages to service members.
My question for you, Ricochetti: Who would you invite as a guest to the SOTU?
Published in Politics
Hulk.
No one. I hate this kind of theater.
Just get up and give the darned speech. Sell your ideas. If there are no buyers, they weren’t good ideas.
Personally I’m not going to the SOTU until the Revolution is complete.
A business owner (any business would do) forced to close up shop due to onerous regulations.
I simultaneously want to stand to applaud this scene and rush to the store and clean them out of ammunition and canned goods.
Probably Cookie Monster, Yoko Ono, and someone from YouTube with crazy pink lipstick.
Were I President, there would not be a SotU Address. There would be a letter sent down the street like it used to be. These innovations need to go. While we’re at it, can we get rid of all cabinet departments that did not exist when Washington was president? And change DoD back to the Department of War, like the real men who started this country intended it? Can we sell off and privatize all government lands (that are worth anything) or mineral leases to help pay down the debt? (Note: This would not include lands housing the Capitol, Executive Mansion, Supreme Court, or other necessary buildings.) Need I go on?
Winnie the pooh and Tigger, maybe piglet but with muslims present maybe not.
Think about it. Ol’ George could have had a cabinet meeting in a minivan. And the entire Federal Government could have fit in a basketball arena.
President George W. Bush. A real president who fought terror.
Or perhaps Dick Cheney!
I think about it every day.
I’d bring the CEO of Remington Arms.
Slow your roll, Jon. Jimmy Carter delivered his last SOTU on 1-16-81, 4 days before Reagan was sworn in. Does anyone think Obama, if his heart still beats, will pass up an opportunity to do the same?
Oh, man, don’t depress me. I was cheered by the idea that this was his last one! Could someone please turn off the mike and the lights if this happens?
This is what I’d call a good start!
They include Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Maj. Lisa Jaster, one of the first female Army Reserve officers to graduate from Ranger School; Refaai Hamo, a Syrian refugee who lives in Troy, Mich.; and Cedric Rowland, a Chicago Obamacare “navigator.”
This is just awful.
Not invited:
Kate Steinle
Victims of the Muslim Rape Epidemic in Europe (Thanks Syria, Hillary and Barry!)
Benghazi victims (Thanks Hillary! Was the phone not working at 3:00AM?)
Americans that don’t work in record numbers (thanks Barry and Congressional Democrats!)
In between golf rounds and inviting the parents of a traitor to our White House, someone we released known terrorists for who have since re-joined the Jihad.
I could go on here, but Biden would have to give up his seat to accommodate all these people that have been “helped” by the Bear-Man ™, during his fundamental transformation-dudering of the United States.
Yeah. Didn’t know we had Syrian refugees in town.
Granted, he still has 12 more months to let us get taken over by Uruguay or sign an executive order ceding all 50 states to Belgium, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Jon, do you not realize that when you say things like this it makes them happen? Don’t even think these thoughts.
Great photo in the link, though.
In the case of Obama, just a courier, to carry the President’s written correspondence to the Congress as required.
Don’t be silly, He’ll only cede the Red States to Belgium, but they won’t want them. So, he’ll have to find another taker.
I’d sell all my tickets to the highest bidder and stay home. Good riddance to the worst administration in American history.
Nobody. It’s a speech about my view of things as they are and as they should be. It’s not community theater. (Yes, I’m assuming I’m the main event. If not, I’d still invite no one; it’s still not community theater.)
I would, though, hating public speaking as I do, make the speech rather than toss a letter over the transom. Communications technologies have advanced to the 20th century; there’s no problem with advancing delivery of the SOTU accordingly. Besides, I want to see the whites of their eyes.
Eric Hines
It’s not about the technology. It is about the Imperial Pomposity. The President of the United States is chief executive of the Federal Government, not some king. It was originally seen as a job to enter humbly and with dignity, not pomp and applause. The letter over the transom can certainly be published to the American people through a variety of technologies, but we don’t need the show.
Oh, and as an antidote to what we have today, let us look back to the first annual message.
The show is as much, if not more, Congress’, than the President’s; talk to them. They’re the ones doing the stamping and clapping. They’re inviting even more show guests than the President.
Eric Hines
If the President writes them a letter and they read it in the well of Congress, will it be enough of a show without the power of the Presence of the Emperor? That is how it worked Jefferson through Taft. Then Wilson started the show.
No, no they covered them with “Victims of Gun Violence”. Them and Osama bin Laden. I don’t see why else that guy got a shout out.
Joe Wilson (“You Lie!”) and Doc Epstein. Wilson would shut Obama down, and then Obama wouldn’t get another word in for the rest of the hour.
Send in Rob Long to derail Obama’s speech at every segue. The thing would take five hours, but it would be worth it.
I sat down to watch it and fell asleep minutes before it started and woke up after it ended. Rarely have I slept so soundly in a sitting position. It was Obama’s best SOTU imo. By far.