Obama Won’t Be at Game Six of the World Series
Despite some rumors, it doesn’t look as though President Barack Obama will be throwing out the first pitch at Game Six of the World Series at Fenway Park this week.
A White House spokesman reiterated on Air Force One to reporters that Obama won't attend the World Series tonight in Boston.
— Matt Viser (@mviser) October 30, 2013
He also apparently wouldn’t wear a Red Sox hat. “[Mayor] Menino gave [Obama] what appeared to be a blue Red Sox baseball cap which [he] clutched in his left hand as he walked over to the crowd to shake hands and greet visitors,” according to pool reports from Logan Airport.
The commander-in-chief arrived in the city Wednesday to “deliver remarks on the importance of providing all Americans with quality, affordable health insurance,” according to White House officials.
The president will be promoting some of the similarities between the federal program, and the state’ s health care act signed in 2006. Former Governor Mitt Romney, Obama’s opponent in the 2012 election, signed that bipartisan proposal into law.
“It is the Massachusetts experience that shows you what happens when people put politics aside and make sure that people are covered,” David Simas, a White House deputy senior adviser told the Boston Globe. “Faneuil Hall, and that historic setting, is a perfect backdrop to show Democrats and Republicans working together.”
But just because Fenway Park will be around the block from Obama, doesn’t necessarily mean he will make it to Game Six of the series between the Red Sox and Cardinals.
The game, which is slated to begin around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, is starting after the departure of Air Force One from Logan Airport. Obama making an appearance at the game, or throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park, are not on his schedule either.
The president will be speaking at Faneuil Hall, backing the Affordable Health Care Act at a time when he faces intense scrutiny over the program’s website problems earlier this month. He will be making stops with White House staff to several other states in the next few days.
Obama missing out on throwing the first pitch is probably for the best, though. In 2012, the president said it was one of the most stressful things he has ever done. “You have to wear this bulky vest, and what happens is, they just hand you the ball,” he told Bill Simmons, on the BS Report. “Each time I go up there my thinking is, I’m going to blaze this thing…but then I kind of loft it a little bit.”
He has enough to worry about right now, let’s not add the stress of tossing a bad ball in front of millions of people to the list.