Ok,
Jim, I’ll take the bait and defend Obama on this issue.
The question the announcer asked was: “Who was one of your
favorite White Sox players growing up?”
Obama didn’t grow up in Chicago and therefore wasn’t a Sox fan
growing up. He probably could have finessed the question a little
by talking about the Frank Thomas era in the 1990s, but Obama was
in his 30s by then and probably thought of himself as an adult.
A more appropriate blooper that casts doubt on the president’s
White Sox fan credentials can be found in my Must-Reads
post if you watch the video again. He butchered the name of
the former Sox stadium, Comiskey Park — it’s now called US
Cellular Field but fans still call it Comiskey. Obama called it
“Cominskey”. That’s a significant foul if one considers oneself a
hardcore Sox fan. I doubt a hardcore Red Sox fan would forget
that the stadium was called “Fenway Park” even if the name had
been bought by a corporate sponsor.
That said, Chicago is filled with politicians saying that they
root for “both teams” or “root for the city”, which usually means
they flock to Wrigley Field once the Cubs approach a .500 winning
percentage. I think that’s wrong. A fan should pick one
Chicago team and stand on principle, not flip-flop between teams
depending on who is winning. I would bet against the president
being able to name the full Sox lineup, but I still commend his
consistent aligning with one Chicago team — even better that the
one team is not the Cubs.
As a side note, I was at opening day at US Cellular Field on
Monday, and noticed that Obama was mostly booed when the
jumbotron showed him throwing out the first pitch at Nationals
Park despite the Sox hat being clearly visible.
About the Author
Brian O’Connell is the Collegiate Network fellow at The American Spectator and former editor-in-chief of the Stanford Review.
