Hunley: County has much to offer new president

Are all these inaugural balls necessary?

OK, sure, I’d like to cover the one being thrown by the nonprofit Creative Coalition. But that’s mainly because Anne Hathaway and Kim Raver from NBC’s “Lipstick Jungle” probably will be there looking … well … photographable, to say the least.

However, let’s put that important journalistic reason aside and consider this: Couldn’t we host a grand time for President-elect Barack Obama right here?
Doesn’t the Prince William region have plenty to offer?

Think about it …

Obama is riding to Washington on a train, right? Why couldn’t he take the VRE into Manassas Park? Or fly into Manassas Regional Airport?

Then, once the Big Man got here, we could certainly fill him up with lots of good eats. A Potomac Mills soiree could boast bourbon chicken from the food court. There’s already a kiosk in the mall selling Obama paraphernalia and a window display featuring a T-shirt that says, “My president is black.”

Or how about a Reuben from The Deli Depot in Manassas? You want a president who can roll with sauerkraut, after all.

Top it off with a pie from The Garden Kitchen in Occoquan — any pie — and you’ve got a feast for the Leader of the Free World.

And if that’s not enough, it’s a sure bet that the cooks in Triangle at the Marine Corps League’s Mickey Finn Detachment could help Obama out, too.

From there, he could head north, paying homage to Virginia’s oldest town of Dumfries, then stopping at Potomac High School for a quick game of b-ball. The kids are off that day, but I bet the Panthers varsity just might come in for that.

A trip west on the Prince William Parkway could allow the commander-in-chief to take a look at the Potomac Nationals’ digs, too, as well as to take a couple of spins around Old Dominion Speedway. It would be safe so long as the Secret Service stood on deck at the ballpark and followed Obama’s race car at the track.

The incoming prez has already been to the fairgrounds and to Nissan Pavilion, so he could skip those. But he could give a nod to the Civil War at Manassas National Battlefield Park and maybe see a Manassas Ballet performance.

Heck, it’s the president. Old Town could be shut down for dances in the streets, though it could be chilly on Inauguration Day. And who knows: first daughters Malia and Sasha might even want to enroll in the dance academy.

In addition to partying, Obama certainly would want to take some serious moments at the Manassas Industrial School & Jennie Dean Memorial, and at SERVE and ACTS.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden, meanwhile, could join Obama, or hide out like his predecessor, Dick Cheney. The “undisclosed location” could be at one of the area’s Wegmans grocers. There’s so much stuff in those places that the bad guys could never find him — as long as the veep could refrain from striking up a conversation with the customers, which could pose a challenge.

Indeed, there must be a lot of Democrats here who would want to chat up the gregarious Delawarean. Though it used to seem like Prince William was solidly Republican, Obama won the county by more than 25,000 votes.

I’m a crotchety independent myself. But to the question of whether we can show Barack a good time here, I can’t help but say it:

“Yes, we can.”

Jonathan Hunley is a staff writer at the News & Messenger. Contact him at 703-369-5738 or .