I've always wondered if people in other countries know as little about our leaders as we short-sighted Americans do about theirs. Today, we have the answer. A letter from an Italian basketball team to President Barack Obama shows that this is one European country that could do to brush up on our commander in chief. If Virtus Bologna owner Claudio Sabatini really thinks he'll get any help from the White House in convincing LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant to ship out to the land of espresso and Serie A, he's sorely mistaken.
Bryant in Bologna means the NBA lockout is going strong. Granted, Claudio just wants to see the five-time NBA champion play one game in the town known across the world as the "basket city," but that's one game too long for a true fan.
And no matter what side of the aisle you fall on, you can bet our president is a true fan. Brother-in-law of a college basketball coach and long-time Chicago Bulls supporter, he's the president who added a basketball court to the White House shortly after moving into the digs on Pennsylvania Avenue. And when the going gets tough on Capitol Hill, Obama's known to head outside for a game of HORSE to clear his head.
Speaking of his head, it's a fair guess that the number one thing on Obama's mind these days is a little thing called the America Jobs Act. Maybe Sabatini has heard of it? It's all over the American news, more so than Kobe right now. It's part of the president's own job: fixing our economy (as opposed to Italy's).
And it's all about putting Americans to work. Americans like the guy who pushes a broom around the NBA arena after a big game. Americans like the woman who scans tickets at the front door before tip-off. The longer this lockout goes on, the more average Americans are out of work.
If our president takes time out to get a rich guy a $1 million paycheck overseas, you can bet all those average Americans suffering without jobs will revolt ... and rightly so.
Maybe Sabatini can give one of them a job?
Image via bridgetds/Flickr