WASHINGTON, D.C., January 11, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — President Obama's attempt to promote his gun control policies has temporarily worked pro-life advocacy into the media's coverage leading up to the president's last State of the Union.
This afternoon, the White House tweeted that Obama would leave one seat in the First Family's guest box empty to honor victims of gun violence.
.@POTUS just announced that one seat in the #SOTU guest box will be left empty to honor the victims of gun violence. #StopGunViolence
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 8, 2016
Within 30 minutes, rising presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, tied Obama's public relations effort to protecting the unborn.
If I'm elected POTUS, there'll be an empty seat for the over 50 million unborn children killed since Roe #Stand4Life https://t.co/BgBy8yYKYd
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 8, 2016
By 4:15 p.m. Eastern on Monday, Cruz's tweet had been retweeted more than 1,700 times, and “liked” more than 2,200 times. Obama's tweet received less than half of the same social media accolades.
Obama has regularly taken advantage of shootings to push for gun control, and to discuss how Americans should care about the lives of those around them. Conversely, he has pushed for abortion-on-demand, and is currently requiring pro-life religious groups to pay for abortion insurance coverage.