News Wed Dec 17 2008

Obama's Full Court Press

So now it's quite obvious what Barack Obama is doing with regards to assembling a Cabinet. Arne Duncan for education secretary? Gen. James Jones for national security advisor? Eric Holder for attorney general? Susan Rice for UN ambassador?

It's clear now. He's assembling the world's most powerful basketball team.

All of them, including Obama, are former organized basketball players who still occasionally hit the hardwood, sometimes with The Big O on a semi-regular basis, sometimes not. It's an amazing number of nominees with organized hoops somewhere in their background, more than any other potential cabinet in history (as if that had to be pointed out). Throw former Princeton hoopster Paul Volker (chairman of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory team) in the mix, and the president-elect has shown a definite slant for not only people he thinks will bring new ideas to D.C. but also guys who can take it to the hole.

Their hardwood resume reads like this: Duncan, 6-5, former captain of the Harvard basketball team and former Australian pro; Jones, 6-4 forward, Georgetown University; Holder, a former player at Columbia University; Rice, a 5-3 star at National Cathedral (high) School in D.C.; Volker, 6-7, a former player at Princeton (OK, he's now 81, but still...).

In fact, out of all of his basketball-playing Cabinet appointees, Obama may have the least experience (take it easy, disgruntled McCain voters). He struggled to make the starting line-up of his Honolulu high school team, but has improved, according to his brother-in-law, a basketball coach (!) at Oregon State University.

So maybe this is how he will deal with world conflicts. Instead of bombs and guns, it'll be three-pointers and box-outs. Shirts vs. skins, winner take all. Ahmadinejad comes down on the fast break, but he's stripped. Hugo Chavez slashing to the basket, stops, shoops... and it's blocked.

Just watch out for that Osama guy. Sure, he might have the height and he starts out strong, but he tends to disappear late in the game.

— Ken Green / Comments (0)