Baller-in-Chief

(From Lynn Sweet for The Daily FLOTUS by Politics Daily Online)

FLASHBACK: Last October, President Obama caught flak when he played basketball with cabinet and House members on the South Lawn of the White House because the players were all male, something that is not an issue when he hoops it up with his own kids.

(From Scott Coppersmith and Dennis Lovelace for Fox LA Online)

President meets with team at White House.

President Barack Obama has welcomed the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers to the White House.

An avid basketball fan, Obama says no team exemplified excellence on the court more than the Lakers did last year in winning their 15th league championship.

Obama said Monday he was especially excited to meet Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who has won 10 championships, though he didn’t hesitate to remind the team that six of those victories were with Obama’s hometown Chicago Bulls.

Obama commended the players not only for their athletic achievements, but also their work off the court. The players held a fitness clinic for Washington-area school children Monday, and several players are donating money to relief efforts in Haiti.

(From Alana Semuels for the Los Angeles Times Online)

On the first sunny day of his Hawaiian vacation, President Obama hit the links Saturday, golfing at a Marine base course on the Mokapu Pennisula.

Framed by lush green mountains and a light blue sea, the course typically charges guests $38 for 18 holes. (There was no word whether the president was asked to cough up fees.)

The White House said Obama golfed with close friend Eric Whitaker and three buddies from Hawaii.

It was the president’s second visit to the military base Saturday — he and First Lady Michelle Obama worked out before sunrise, as they did on Christmas Day.

While Obama was known for his basketball prowess on the campaign trail, he’s gravitated to golf since becoming president. The Wall Street Journal reported in November that he’d played only seven known games of basketball since taking office, and 25 rounds of golf. The White House explained in response that golf got the president outside.

(From Joe Favorito for Sports Marketing and PR Roundup)

One of the smarter moves President Barack Obama used during his campaign to lure the interest of the casual voter was to introduce his athletic side and interests into his platform discussions. It started with shooting baskets with Sports Illustrated’s Scott Price, while discussing his background in and affinity for basketball. He threw out a first pitch and donned his beloved White Sox cap; he played more hoops with the University of North Carolina on another primary stop, analyzed NCAA brackets, talked BCS and hit some golf balls for fun. Meanwhile Senator Hillary Clinton looked uncomfortable talking baseball, Senator McCain, despite being an avid outdoorsman, stopped in at a NASCAR event but took his private time hunting away from the cameras, and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin regaled us as a hockey mom. None were as effective with the casual male sports fan as President Obama, and that feeling resonated with a male audience who may not have followed his campaign closely before. It made him much more “one of the guys.” He shoots hoops and likes baseball and talks about it all very comfortably. Did it lure some votes? Probably. Did it detract at any point? No way.

So the election comes and goes and the President continues his sports interests … he attends a Wizards game in a turtleneck and sits court-side, and talk of bringing a basketball court to the White House to replace the bowling alley runs rampant. Staff members are frequently seen being part of pickup games on the road. Athletes and teams make a trip to the White House a must stop during their D.C. swings, whether the President is in residence or not. Hall of Famers show up in record numbers, a new office to assist in growing Olympic sport and youth issues is announced. Talk of Opening Day for baseball and Final four predictions abound, despite all the challenges that are ongoing in the real world for the new President.

Yes there are the traditional champion’s visits, but the sense of sport for this President (even with his predecessor being a former MLB owner) has never been higher. Even on the international scene, the optimism around the coming vote for the 2016 Olympics, right in the President’s backyard, gives the Chicago bid a welcomed boost.

Time then moves ahead, and alas, our sporting President has moved on to bigger issues than pickup ball. Healthcare reform, the repayment of bank loans, and the war in Afghanistan rightfully dominate the agenda these days, and his most forward link to sports lately, August’s trip to Copenhagen to support Chicago’s Olympic bid, ended badly.

Has the President abandoned using sports as a social unifier to reach the young male who loved watching him mix it up on the court and play catch? Probably not. Using that sports platform to address the growing issue of childhood obesity in this country, will be a welcomed statement at the right time, perhaps as a part of another step in healthcare.

One prominent former athlete, (now NBC broadcaster) Tiki Barber, has made a trip or two to the White House to show his plans to use playgrounds … the plan is called “Play Proud”… as a spot where children in inner cities can resolve conflicts and build a base for healthy play, and that could certainly factor into the administrations’ plans for the future. The Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport, announced in June, is also finding its place amongst those in DC, and could be rolled out on a larger platform as we move toward the Vancouver Olympics in February. All will find its place in time.

So has the President stopped being the “sports guy”? Nope. Will we see him dropping in on a Georgetown hoops game, or the NHL Winter Classic or the Super Bowl? Probably not soon.

Like all of us he just doesn’t have time right now for catch. That’s also probably a good thing.

(From FreeDarko.com)

Obama Ensures JA Vote Forever

Obama already had pretty strong support among Japanese-Americans (he got 60% of the vote), but he might have locked it up for good by shouting out JA hoops legend Wat Misaka, who had a cup of green tea with the Knicks in the late ’40s, at a press conference recognizing the contributions of Asian-Americans to this great land of ours.

And we’re talking about the competitive spirit of athletes like Wat Misaka, who played for the New York Knicks back in 1947 — the first non-white player in the NBA — and who served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Mr. Misaka is here as well today and — where’s Mr. Misaka? There he is. Thank you so much.

This is another example of the Obama administration’s undying belief in the unifying spirit of basketball, following the President name-dropping Mehmet Okur in front of the Turkish Parliament and Attorney General Eric Holder talking about Connie Hawkins during his Senate confirmation hearing. The first year hasn’t gone quite as well as we expected, but moments like this give us reason to continue to hope.