Baller-in-Chief

(From John Hooper for the U.K. Guardian Online)

G8 summit: Barracks for Barack Obama, with basketball court thrown in

“Excuse me, but what are you doing?”

Italians phrase things so delicately. Even this one, who was cradling a sub-machine gun with a pistol strapped to his thigh, Rambo-style.

It was proof the Guardian had penetrated what, until next Friday, when the world’s leaders end their latest G8 summit, will be the most sensitive, heavily guarded location on earth – Barack Obama’s basketball court.

It was created, outside the president’s temporary residence (”Building P1″), as a gesture of goodwill by his host, Silvio Berlusconi. There again, it might be thought Italy’s prime minister owed him a gesture or two.

After once describing the US president as “tanned”, he then decided Obama and others, who had been looking forward to convening by the balmy waters of Sardinia, should meet at a barracks in an earthquake zone.

Today there was yet another after-shock of the disaster that, in April, left almost 300 dead. The tremor, magnitude 3.6, sent workers fleeing into the streets from the regional government headquarters and other recently reoccupied buildings in L’Aquila.

The mighty of the earth will arrive by way of a flying club hastily turned into an airport. Officials say the new Aeroporto dei Parchi, whose control tower is made of pre-fabricated units, can handle planes with up to 40 passengers.

But that is on a rare stretch of even land in a valley ringed by mountains, and the first planes to touch down on Thursday were making spine-tingling turns to line up with the runway. Once the presidents and prime ministers are over that little adventure, they will be driven to the barracks through an area still visibly shattered by the earthquake.

The natural route is through the village of Coppito, many of whose inhabitants are living in an encampment beside the main street. One of the first sights for the illustrious guests could be of a house that has lost an entire wall, revealing the contents within.

Though some activity has returned, the area round L’Aquila looks like a war zone: lorries ferrying humanitarian aid, helicopters clattering overhead, buildings that seem to have been shelled, and roadside stalls run by shopkeepers unable yet to return to their usual premises.

The barracks, three miles (5km) from the centre of L’Aquila, must have been an awkward choice for Italy’s flamboyant leader. It houses a training school for the Guardia di Finanza (motto: “Nec recisa recedit” — “Never, even broken, does it retreat”).

This a branch of the armed forces which comes under the finance ministry and whose duties include checking on tax fraud — an offence for which Berlusconi, who denies the charge, is currently on trial. Not for the first time.

Stretching out from under the sprawling parade ground is a network of bunkers. It reportedly includes vaults taken by the Italian central bank to hold part of the country’s reserves.

The site has another link to the global financial meltdown that will be top of the G8’s agenda: La Repubblica reported yesterday that, in 2004, it was privatised by the last Berlusconi government to a consortium in part comprising the now-defunct Lehman Brothers and the nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland.

Visting the site on Thursday, Berlusconi said he would have “everything ready with days to spare”. Since his officials were not offering a tour, The Guardian decided to see for itself.

Beyond a line of crash barriers was a site that looked as if it might just be ready at about 11.59 on the night before Wednesday’s opening session. There were workmen hefting plasterboard walls, laying turf outside the delegates’ accommodation and shifting mounds of garbage behind the main conference hall, which was a sea of plastic sheeting and loose cables. Nor was Obama’s basketball court – alongside a nondescript building that previously served as married quarters – exactly match-ready.

The visit was cut short by the revenue guard and a burly, bearded sergeant who made us delete our pictures before having us removed. The photo alongside? That’s a trade secret. Nec recisa recedit. As we say of the Guardian.

In a Business Week Online article today about incoming FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, Tom Lowry wrote this:

It will be several months before the business community gets a clear reading on Genachowski’s FCC. But executives already know one thing for certain: The new guy will have far more clout than Martin. Not only did Genachowski advise the Obama campaign on telecom policy, he is among the enviable few who participate in the President’s Sunday pickup basketball games. Even if he can’t match Obama’s on-court moves, Genachowski has the big man’s ear.

Genachowski was also mentioned in the recent Baller-in-Chief article by ESPN’s Wright Thompson.

With a name like Julius and playing hoops with Obama, how cool is the new FCC chairman?

(From The Los Angeles Times Online)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sorry, Kobe.

President Barack Obama was asked straight out on Thursday: Kobe or Michael?

As in, who’s the best? Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, a four-time NBA champion? Or the basketball legend to whom he is most often compared, Michael Jordan, who retired as a six-time champ with the Chicago Bulls and is widely regarded as the best player of all time?

“Oh, Michael,” Obama answered in an interview with The Associated Press.

“I mean, Kobe’s terrific. Don’t get me wrong,” Obama said. “But I haven’t seen anybody match up with Michael.”

Obama, a basketball fan who hails from Chicago, is certainly no Lakers hater.

He picked Bryant’s team to defeat the Orlando Magic in the finals this year, and he was right.

At first when I read this headline at The Huffington Post, I thought that Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska believed she could actually beat President Barack Obama if she ran against him in a presidential race!

I thought for sure she had truly lost her marbles.

But her comments were not about politics but rather about actual running, as in jogging. “I betcha I’d have more endurance,” she told Runner’s World magazine. “What I lacked in physical strength or skill I made up for in determination and endurance. So if it were a long race that required a lot of endurance, I’d win.”

The White House responded as follows, reported by the Christian Science Monitor today:

When first asked about Gov. Palin’s comment, Obama spokesman Gibbs replied, “How is her jump shot?”

The President is a well known basketball fan. It turns out Palin is, as well. She told Runner’s world “ we both love basketball. But look, he towers over me and I wouldn’t be complaining about an unfair advantage there, but maybe I’d do better playing H-O-R-S-E with him than one-on-one.”

Gibbs said the outcome of a race would depend on “where they are going to run.”

And he ended by saying he would ask the President “if he has any free time to do that” this summer.

This, according to a piece that ran today on Politico.com:

President Barack Obama and his family plan to vacation next month on Martha’s Vineyard, Democratic sources said.

The trip has long been rumored on the island, where federal agents were reported to be checking out property last spring.

The plan puts the Obamas in one of America’s most diverse resort areas. The enclave of Oak Bluffs has long been a favorite vacation spot for the nation’s African-American elite.

The Vineyard was a favorite vacation spot of President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, now Obama’s secretary of state.

An article about the Vineyard in New York Magazine reported: “In the past, Obama has spent time playing golf with Vernon Jordan, swimming off South Beach, playing basketball … reading and watching the ferries, and taking the girls for ice cream on Circuit Avenue.”

On the subject of basketball, as reported here last week, the president will have several options for where to play.