ARGONNE, IL - MARCH 15: President Barack Obama greets guests following a speech at Argonne National Laboratory on March 15, 2013 in Argonne, Illinois. Obama used the event to push for more federally funded research into clean energy technologies. Argonne is the current home of a $120 million federal project to develop smaller, cheaper and more powerful batteries for electric vehicles. Credit: Getty Images

President Barack Obama and his administration have been harshly criticized by Republicans and conservative commentators for allegedly using scare-tactics when warning about the harmful effects of the sequester.

Regardless of how dangerous the president actually thinks the sequester is, he was comfortable enough with the implications to crack a joke about it during a speech on energy policy in Illinois on Friday.

Speaking before a supportive crowd that had yet to sit down at the Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill., Obama inserted some sequester-themed humor.

"I wasn’t sure everybody had chairs there," he said. "Please feel free to sit down. I’m sorry. Everybody was standing. I thought Argonne — you know, one of the effects of the sequester, you had to get rid of chairs."

The crowd apparently thought the joke was hilarious.

(H/T: Washington Post)