Note to chief White Sox fan:”A lot of Yankee fans vote”
President Barack Obama was very much the suffering Chicago White Sox fan on Monday when the New York Yankees visited the White House to be honored for winning the World Series championship in 2009. That crown was the team’s 27th, by far the most in Major League Baseball.
The team that comes second, the St. Louis Cardinals, has only 10 titles. And Obama’s favorite White Sox have won only three times, most recently in 2005, and that was their first championship since 1917.
Obama was a gracious host to the New Yorkers. He praised their history and the character of the team’s players.
“Being successful in New York doesn’t come easy, and it’s not for everybody. It takes a certain kind of player to thrive in the pressure cooker of Yankee Stadium -– somebody who is poised and professional, and knows what it takes to wear the pinstripes. It takes somebody who appreciates how lucky he is, and who feels a responsibility for those who are less fortunate,” Obama said. He praised two of the players in particular, Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada, for their charity work, and a third, Derek Jeter, who was named the U.S. sportsman of the year for 2009 by Sports Illustrated magazine. The team visited wounded U.S. troops at hospitals near Washington before coming to the White House.
“This is a team that goes down to spring training every year expecting to win it all — and more often than not, you guys get pretty close,” Obama said.
However, he added shortly afterward: ”That attitude, that success, has always made the Yankees easy to love — and, let’s face it, easy to hate as well,” Obama said at a packed ceremony in the White House East Room.
The First Draft: Limbo Day
It’s the day before the all-important employment report for October. (Expectation is for a 175,000 drop in payrolls and an uptick in the unemployment rate to 9.9 percent, which would be a 26-year high).
It’s the day after the New York Yankees won the World Series. (Condolences Phillies fans).
It’s the day before the House of Representatives might send healthcare overhaul legislation to the floor for debate with the goal of a Saturday vote. (Have learned never to bet on the timing of legislation on the Hill).
It’s the day after President Barack Obama didn’t comment on the previous night’s elections. (We’re still on POTUS election comment watch).
It’s the day before FRIDAY!!!! (Although some of us are working on the weekend).
It’s the day after both parties spun Tuesday’s election results every which way to suit them. (Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it was a win, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says it was the sign of a ‘Republican Renaissance’).
As for today, Obama hosts a White House Tribal Nations Conference, meets with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, meets with President Ian Khama of Botswana, meets with representatives of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (probably to get a fill on her recent trip to Pakistan and the Middle East).
Baseball gets Justice — Sotomayor to throw first pitch
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a longtime avid fan of the New York Yankees baseball team, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Saturday’s game against the Boston Red Sox.
A child of Puerto Rican parents, she grew up in the Bronx not far from where the Yankees play. Sotomayor, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate last month, is the first Hispanic justice on the high court.
The Yankees said ceremonial first pitches by Sotomayor and by Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli on Friday will take place during the team’s final regular season homestand to commemorate Hispanic heritage month.
“Having Justice Sotomayor, a South Bronx native, participate in our yearly Hispanic heritage month celebration is very exciting, as she is an inspiration to so many,” Manuel Garcia, Yankees Director of Latino Affairs, said. “We are proud to welcome her and President Martinelli to our new home.”
The Yankees, with the best record in baseball, are playing in a new stadium this season.
Sotomayor had a famous brush with Major League Baseball when she was a District Court judge with a decision that helped end the baseball strike of 1994-1995. “Some say that Judge Sotomayor saved baseball,” Obama said in nominating her to the Supreme Court.
For Sotomayor’s official duties as a justice, the Supreme Court will next meet in a private conference next Tuesday and the new term officially begins on Oct. 5.
Come on folks, we can do better than this. This is clearly a leftist politcal appointment designed to derail the current justice system as such. Guess what? It’ll probalby work.
