The Democratic National Convention kicks off today in Charlotte, N.C. after the Republican National Convention wrapped up in Tampa, Fla. last week.
Michelle Obama will be making a speech while President Barack Obama won't formally accept his party's nomination at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. until Thursday.
Following the media frenzy surrounding Clint Eastwood's "Obama's empty chair style of leadership" speech, a petition on Change.org and a group on Facebook are calling for Betty White to introduce President Barack Obama at the DNC, just as Clint Eastwood did for Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention.
"Clint Eastwood, the Republican's 'mystery guest' at the RNC, gave a bad name to older Americans everywhere with his absurd and awkward-to-watch introduction of Governor Romney," the petition reads.
"You know what? Governor Romney can have Clint Eastwood and his improvisational skills because President Obama has the one and only Betty White!"
The petition, written by Peter Slutsky of Brooklyn, N.Y., says that Eastwood, 82, "gave a bad name to older Americans everywhere" with his "absurd and awkward-to-watch" speech at the GOP convention, which included him speaking to an imaginary Obama in an empty chair beside him on the stage.
Governor Romney can have Clint Eastwood and his improvisational skills because President Obama has the one and only Betty White!" the petition continued. By 12:22 p.m. on Tuesday, 7,956 people had supported the cause.
As of Monday morning, more than 2,800 supporters signed the petition, and nearly 20,000 "liked" a Facebook group called "Bring Betty White to the DNC."
Betty White and President Obama are friends. Back in January, Obama taped a video message to White that aired during a televised celebration of her 90th birthday. In the video, Obama demanded that White produce a copy of her long-form birth certificate to prove her age.
The 90-year-old "Hot in Cleveland" actress - a vocal Obama supporter - visited the president in the White House in June and even took a walk with the first family's dog Bo.
For the Republican party, Eastwood's speech appears to have backfired on them, drawing more negative attention than anything else, as many posted photos of themselves speaking to empty chairs on Twitter with the "#Eastwooding."
The Obama 2012 campaign cleverly used the negative attention the Republican party was getting to score some extra points for them via social media channels. A Twitter spokeswoman said Sunday that the Obama camp's tweet in response to Eastwood's chair shtick Thursday - the words "This seat's taken" accompanying a picture of Obama sitting in a chair designated for the President - was the most retweeted tweet of the RNC, USA Today reported.
