Petition for President Obama to attend the Championship!

[David Anderson]

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night/morrow/teatime/et cetera everyone! I was going through We The People this morning and had the thought, "Hey, we could get everyone to look at FIRST if we had the President at St. Louis." Thus, this petition was born: Send President Obama to the 2013 FIRST World Championship

I think having the President attend the world competition would not only be really, SEVERELY cool for everyone at St. Louis, but also it'd bring attention to all the things we're doing at FIRST, and how great all of it is for students, communities, and businesses alike. So, can we manage 100,000 in a month?

[cziggy343]

I did it! Everyone else should too!

[karomata]

This is a really cool idea, I hope it works out!

[dtengineering]

A good idea... a good initiative... but it might not be as simple as "Hey, Barack, why not swing by and say 'Hi'?"

My wife had the opportunity, some years ago, to attend a conference where then President George W. Bush would deliver the keynote.

Everyone had to clear security to get into the room where the presentation was being made. Then they had to wait for the presidential entourage to arrive, then they had to wait for the president to leave.

It is unfortunate that such security is necssary, but as great as it would be to have the president visit, it might throw a few bugs into the event schedule.

But the invitation, at least, would likely be noted and appreciated. It never hurts to ask... just sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for!

Jason

[David Anderson]

I wouldn't exactly expect it to be quite that simple, nor do I think it's likely for it to happen this year if at all, but for it to work out that way and go smoothly would obviously be the ideal, so that's what I put into the petition. What I'm hoping for at the least is something to that effect, basically just something that results in everyone hearing the President say something like "Here's this huge, revolutionary thing that our kids are doing that will improve the country and you probably have never even heard of, but here it is so get involved."

[Libby K]

Just FYI, our president totally knows what FIRST is -

-He was on i.am.FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll.
-He's invited Hall of Fame teams to the White House after their wins
(except, not yet to 1114 - I think their invite got lost at the border )
-He's invited teams from all FIRST programs to the White House Science Fair each year.

He knows FIRST - it's just a matter of getting him in the right city at the right time.

[Arrowhead]

I think this is a great idea

[David Anderson]

Originally Posted by Libby K

Just FYI, our president totally knows what FIRST is -

-He was on i.am.FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll.
-He's invited Hall of Fame teams to the White House after their wins
(except, not yet to 1114 - I think their invite got lost at the border )
-He's invited teams from all FIRST programs to the White House Science Fair each year.

He knows FIRST - it's just a matter of getting him in the right city at the right time.

I noted such in the petition ^u^ That was part of what made me think of it, along with seeing the petitions to do with NASA and STEM programs.

[Tottanka]

Originally Posted by Libby K

Just FYI, our president totally knows what FIRST is -

-He was on i.am.FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll.
-He's invited Hall of Fame teams to the White House after their wins
(except, not yet to 1114 - I think their invite got lost at the border )
-He's invited teams from all FIRST programs to the White House Science Fair each year.

He knows FIRST - it's just a matter of getting him in the right city at the right time.

He's also been introduced to FLL teams from the Palestinian side of Jerusalem during his visit last week =]

[falconmaster]

Originally Posted by Libby K

Just FYI, our president totally knows what FIRST is -

-He was on i.am.FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll.
-He's invited Hall of Fame teams to the White House after their wins
(except, not yet to 1114 - I think their invite got lost at the border )
-He's invited teams from all FIRST programs to the White House Science Fair each year.

He knows FIRST - it's just a matter of getting him in the right city at the right time.

Team 842 Falcon Robotics was never invited and we would love to have gone....Oh well...

[Navid Shafa]

Petition Signer #50

Going to spread it around on Facebook and share with my team.

[emekablue]

I love this petition so much! But nothing is going to happen if we don't share it with others!!! Even if every team attending St. Louis (~400) had 5 members sign it, there would only be 2,000 signatures. If all FRC teams had 10 members sign it, (~2,000) that would only cover 20,000 of the signatures.

So, if we want this to happen, exposure and presence is key! Have FIRST send an email to all teams! Create a public Facebook event! Utilize the wonders of social media to their fullest extent! Let's make this work!

Go hard or go home!

[Koko Ed]

I, for one, vote nay.
I foresee security measures that would bog down the event and make it unpleasant for the attendees.

[IndySam]

I'm with Ed

Although it would be great if he came the security logistics would be a nightmare.

[Reanna]

I doubt that it will happen and I agree with Koko, but I signed the petition anyway. Just for the fun of it.