This choked me up more than anything else this week, for some reason.
Check out the transcript of the last official White House event of Barack Obama's presidency, Remarks by the President Honoring the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs this past Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.
As a life-long baseball fan (though not a Cubs fan particularly), I found this a deeply satisfying read. I especially appreciate Obama's remarks about what sports can mean to society, beyond the games themselves. "Sports has changed attitudes and culture in ways that seem subtle but that ultimately made us think differently about ourselves and who we were. It is a game and it is celebration, but there's a direct line between Jackie Robinson and me standing here. There's a direct line between people loving Ernie Banks, and then the city being able to come together and work together in one spirit."
Read the whole thing, though -- trust me, it's worth it. Theo Epstein did a pretty decent job, too, I might add.
Better read it quick, because soon all traces of decency, good sportsmanship, kindness, humor, grace, compassion, generosity, and equanimity will be scrubbed from the White House and presumably from the whitehouse.gov site.
