Last night, President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address. It was at times moving, at times funny, and always as charismatic as we have come to expect from our Commander in Chief over the last seven years, for better or for worse. Whether it was funny or sad, however, could not be determined by glancing over Obama’s left shoulder at Speaker Paul Ryan. He sat impassively without clapping almost the entire time and people noticed. Oh, people noticed.
Comments and quips came in from all the usual suspects, but as people do in 2016, comedians, celebrities, and cable subscribers across the country took to Twitter to mock the representative and call out his seeming lack of patriotism.
Some people were worried!
paul ryan, are you being held against your will? blink twice if you’re okay. stare straight forward and do nothing if you need rescuing.
— Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) January 13, 2016
Some people got creative!
Paul Ryan’s face in emoji so far: ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) January 13, 2016
Some people couldn’t hide that they had their minds on other, more important things!
Obama could reveal Colonel Sanders’ secret recipe right now and Paul Ryan still wouldn’t clap. #SOTU
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) January 13, 2016
Some people made astute comparisons!
Paul Ryan’s sour puss face as everyone around him praises Obama’s list of accomplishments. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/Vg7YR1i9eS
— Live Tweeting (@BlavityLive) January 13, 2016
Some people had sharp eyes!
Here’s Paul Ryan trying reeeeally hard not to laugh at one of Obama’s jokes pic.twitter.com/gqekuYJ1BF
— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) January 13, 2016
(This one is my favorite. I want this .gif played on repeat at my funeral.)
Ultimately, some people got fed up.
I couldn’t take it anymore pic.twitter.com/iMKATRp46k
— She (@LipstickThuggin) January 13, 2016
And some people thought the pouty behavior was totally justified.
I can’t say I was disappointed by the president’s speech, but that’s because I wasn’t expecting much. https://t.co/IOVPATMPEu #LastSOTU
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) January 13, 2016
Maybe the biggest joke of all, though, is that the whole stunt seems to have been a pre-meditated protest/attention-grab. Check out the tweet Speaker Ryan sent out five hours before his frown went viral:
The president & I don’t agree on much. Might be hard to hide that in my facial expressions. https://t.co/nZSCZljVaK
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) January 12, 2016
Keep it classy, two-party system!
[image via screengrab]
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