The Meme That Made SOTU

Twitter is abuzz about Obama's sixth State of the Union address, and the conversation has nothing to do with policy. Rather, the public has become infatuated with a man who will henceforth be known only as "the meme guy," or more formally, Ernest Moniz, the Energy Secretary of the United States. But come on, Mr. Moniz, wouldn't you rather be known as the face that launched a thousand tweets rather than the man responsible for keeping global warming at bay?

After being forced to sit out the last State of the Union address (he was previously tapped by Obama to stay home from the speech as the designated survivor), Moniz deserved some extra attention. And boy, did he get it.

As the cameras panned around the room during the president's annual address, a strange twist of fate and an excellent stroke of chance placed Mr. Moniz's face squarely in the middle of a frame, and instantly, his expression (combined with his impeccable hair style), became the talk of the Twitter town. It is unclear what thoughts were running through the energy secretary's mind when his face was captured by the cameras, but whatever they were, they must have been priceless to create such a perfect combination of what can only be described as "disinterested surprise." Perhaps he was, as one Twitter user suggested, just trying to stay awake, or perhaps he was attempting to channel his inner Javier Bardem a la "No Country For Old Men," as another user tweeted. But whatever it is, Twitter agrees — Ernest Moniz deserves more camera time.

Seriously, look at this face.

More importantly, look at those eyebrows.

And check out the uncanny resemblance to one of Hollywood's best and brightest, who also has a very meme-able face.

This hairstyle, my friends, will be all the rage in another 300 years, just as it was 300 years ago — you mark my words.

Let's just bask in the glory of Moniz's expressions some more, shall we?

Ok you caught me that's not him. This is better:

Bizarre hairstyles and incomparable facial muscle posture aside, Moniz is quite an important figure in Obama's administration, as he has been tasked with overseeing the very difficult issue of environmental policy for the United States. The former MIT professor "was a leader of multidisciplinary technology and policy studies on the future of nuclear power, coal, nuclear fuel cycles, natural gas and solar energy in a low-carbon world" at the prestigious university, and has long overseen the Department of Energy's science and energy programs.

And yet, thanks to Twitter and one lucky cameraman, Ernest Moniz will go down in history not only as the United States Secretary of Energy, but also as "the meme guy" — the greatest audience member of any State of the Union address ever.

Images: Twitter