Gabrielle Giffords is the center of care in the State of the Union

Both President Barack Obama and his State of the Nation's serious competition for attention on Tuesday night on Capitol Hill.

It was all eyes and minds of Gabrielle Giffords Member of the House of Representatives, Democrat of Arizona, who was shot and seriously injured in a shooting last year in Tucson. He announced his resignation last week, and their presence tonight at the Capitol is one of the last duties before falling to Houston to focus on recovery and rehabilitation.

Received not one, not even the President of the Republic, the biggest applause upon arrival. Everyone in the room, the largest of the Democrats and Republicans alike, from their chairs to applaud Giffords, and the applause continued for several minutes.


Applause broke out when the last President received Giffords, who was sitting in the front row in the bright red suit with a long embrace.

During the speech, sat Giffords husband, a former astronaut Mark Kelly, the first lady in the table on the floor of the House of Representatives. I was sitting between Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

When it came in a speech to an end, and many people are meeting with the president.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston and admiration for Giffords decision "to appear.

"It was a source of inspiration to be here tonight. He looked very up close and personal too," said Jackson Lee.

Like many members of Congress, Giffords said she considered to be a hero of the modern era.

"Today I called an American hero. We in Houston are very proud of her progress and she did this, and we wish you good luck too, and many very successful."

It is not the first time Giffords as a peacemaker between the parties. Last year, decided on a number of members of Congress from both parties to sit next to a member of the other party as a gesture to them. This year, joined more than 180 members of Congress by the gesture.

In August, he surprised everyone by showing Giffords in Congress for the first time since the shooting. He returned to vote on the roof of the debt agreement.

Moreover, the emergence of a unified Congress in applause after several weeks of heavy fighting in the agreement. Although it may be just for one night, its appearance in the state of the third president of the Union speech of the night, managed to do the same.