Will Shaq Meet Obama Today?

The Gaggle

RSS

Author

Katie Connolly

Ben Adler

Jonathan Alter

Columnist Page

Eleanor Clift

Columnist Page |
Email

Eve Conant

Howard Fineman

Columnist Page

Sarah Kliff

Email |
Twitter

Andrew Romano

Daniel Stone

Featured Postings

A GOP Plan for Deficit Reduction

9:00 AM, February 9, 2010 | Comments (5)

I've been hard on congressional Republicans recently for pandering to voters' ignorance by offering politically appealing but irresponsible slogans instead of a credible conservative vision of how to meet America's challenges, even those they harp on...

The Press Evinces Soft Bigotry Against Republicans─By Not Expecting Them to Govern

1:05 PM, February 1, 2010 | Comments (21)

Conservatives React to State of the Union With Sneers and Jeers

11:50 PM, January 27, 2010 | Comments (18)

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Holly Bailey

Is Shaquille O’Neal famous enough to just waltz into the White House unannounced? Apparently not. The gigantic NBA basketball star, now of the Cleveland Cavs, is in Washington today, where he’s set to host the WWE’s Monday Night RAW. Wrestling, basketball, acting—what can we say? The guy does it all. But is it enough to get him an impromptu visit with President Obama? For days, Shaq has been talking up a personal experiment: Is he so famous that he can just walk up without an appointment and get into the White House? He took an impromptu survey Friday on a DC sports radio show. “Check this out, I got on a nice suit, I'm in D.C. paying a visit, I jump out of a cab in front of the White House, I don't use none of my political/law enforcement connections. If I go to the gate and say, 'Hey, I'm in town, I would like to see the President,' do I get in, or do I not get in?” Shaq asked. Well, he tried. On Sunday afternoon, Shaq arrived in D.C. and promptly Twittered that he was headed over to the White House. Would the Secret Service bend the rules? Don’t think so. A few hours later, Shaq updated again: “The white house wouldn't let me in, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?” he wrote. Hate to break it to you, Shaq, but the Secret Service folks are sticklers for security. Anybody who goes to the WH is asked to undergo a quick background check—even squeaky-clean Reese Witherspoon had to do it a few weeks ago. Tiger Woods, too. Rumor is Shaq will try visiting the White House again today. Will he get in this time? After all, Obama never got to thank Shaq in person for those size 23 sneakers he gifted the president this past spring. Your Gaggler just checked with the White House: So far, Shaq’s not on Obama’s schedule, but we’re guessing someone could probably squeeze him in.

UPDATE: The Post's Dan Steinberg gets the scoop from Shaq himself on how this all went down. All we have to say is: a 1,000 push-ups? Seriously?

Tag(s): Barack Obama, basketball

You must be a registered user to comment. Click here to register. Already a user? Click here to login.

Member Comments

Posted By: MCGILL (July 28, 2009 at 10:32 AM)

Who cares.. is this really news worthy....what does it have to do with all that is going on...the media continues to amaze me on the petty crap they will cover on this clown...it is a circus act..