LA Kings’ White House visit: Darryl Sutter plans to ask Obama about Keystone pipeline
When the Boston Bruins visited the White House last year, Tim Thomas became the story after opting out for ideological reasons. With the Los Angeles Kings set to visit President Obama and Friends this time around, will a member of the group once again take a visit to the White House for a chance to talk politics?
If so, it won't be Dustin Penner, who wins the tweet of the day award with this gem:
It won't be Dustin Brown, either.
“I’ll keep it pretty simple,” He told the LA Times. “I’ll just go there and enjoy it. Hopefully it won’t be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But you’ve got to treat it like that.
But simple approach of the Dustins may not be shared by Darryl Sutter, who intends to ask President Obama about the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the construction of which the Obama Administration rejected back in January.
“I’m gonna ask him about it – damn rights I am,” said Mr. Sutter.
A parade of Canadians have made their way to Washington in recent weeks to win Mr. Obama’s backing for the controversial pipeline, which would transport 800,000 barrels a day of oil-sands bitumen to the world’s largest refining hub on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
But Mr. Sutter might just be the first to use the Stanley Cup as a means of voicing his opinion.
Sure, it may be somewhat hubristic for Sutter to assume he can kickstart a complete turnaround on this issue, but he's at the White House because he was able to do it for the Kings, so you can understand why he might think he has the power.
Sutter's confidence was on full display at L.A.'s Stanley Cup parade, when he wore that awful burgundy sweater. This man thinks he's invincible.
If Obama is smart, though, he's prepared himself with a one-liner. "Mr. Sutter," he should say, "I invited you here as a representative of the Kings, not the oilers."
Do that, and he may just receive a standing ovation.
