State Of The Union Guests Sort Of Assumed White House Would Pay For Them To Get Home

WASHINGTON—While grateful to have been honored at one of the most important political events of the year, guests of President Obama at the State of the Union address told reporters Wednesday that they had naturally assumed the White House would pay for them to get home. “It was really nice of the president to fly me out here and mention the letter I wrote about how my family struggled during the recession, but I guess I thought our plane tickets would be round-trip,” said Rebekah Erler of Minneapolis, adding that she would never forget appearing next to Michelle Obama on national television but had also taken it as given that her return trip would be purchased in advance by someone in the federal government. “Now, I have to shell out $550 of my own money for a last-minute flight that gets me home at one in the morning, and I have no idea if I’ll ever be reimbursed. Who do I even talk to about that?” Erler went on to say that if she knew this was going to happen, there’s no way she would have written that stupid letter in the first place.