Invite Obama to Atlanta, we already did

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by CraigHickman

To be brutally honest, I doubt any current president will be able to attend Champs. Here's my reasoning:

A. It's open to the general public. This makes security an even larger nightmare.
B. Teams enter and exit with toolcrates constantly. This creates a security environment that is inoperable for a president. It would be disturbingly easy to smuggle a firearm into a FRC competition, hence the lack of likely hood of his attending.
C. We're not big enough. This is the president we're talking about here, folks. This is the most powerful man in the world. We aren't big enough yet. We're close, but this is the man who single-handedly packs millions for speeches.

I agree with your rational, but I will also point out that last year when George Bush Sr. Spoke at nationals no one really knew about it ahead of time.

My guess is that sort of planning could be used, because if there is no way of knowing if he will show up, no one will plan for it. This generally would make security much easier (Again, note the security detail at the event when George Bush Sr. was in Atlanta, it seemed to me to be quite light, even if he is an ex-president).


My 2cents anyways, I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons for him not to come, but I wouldn't rule it out completely. And there's always Deans plan of taking everyone to the Washington mall in a few years too.

Originally Posted by cbale2000

I agree with your rational, but I will also point out that last year when George Bush Sr. Spoke at nationals no one really knew about it ahead of time.

My guess is that sort of planning could be used, because if there is no way of knowing if he will show up, no one will plan for it. This generally would make security much easier (Again, note the security detail at the event when George Bush Sr. was in Atlanta, it seemed to me to be quite light, even if he is an ex-president).


My 2cents anyways, I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons for him not to come, but I wouldn't rule it out completely. And there's always Deans plan of taking everyone to the Washington mall in a few years too.

Bush Senior isn't a president anymore, so he doesn't have too many current enemies.

[BJT]

the security for a presidential visit would SCREW UP the entire event. nobody could get into the arena that entire day without being searched. it's a nice thought, but I don't really think it's possible.

[MattLi]

Ok while I agree with you people that security will be an issue, I don't believe it's completely impossible for him to show. Honestly, he could just probably show up unannounced and FIRST will let him speak. I mean he is the president after all. Also, last time I checked, no one at FIRST has a burning desire to bring any firearms to the Georgia Dome for a robotics competition. He could just show up, his security lock down the Dome, and then leave. No one would expect anything, so there would be no risk of random assassins bringing snipers to the event.