Obama to skip Nats’ opening day game

The woeful Washington Nationals have once again lost out on a promising left handed pitcher. This time it’s the leader of the free world.

Say it ain’t so, B.O.

President Obama is turning down the ball club’s invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at their home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, the Washington Times reports (via DCist.com). According to the Times, the White House told the team in March that Obama would be there.

Ever since William Howard Taft wowed the Washington crowd with his screwball in 1910, presidents traditionally, though not always, partaken in the opening day duties. The Nats asked Obama to join them, as President George W. Bush did in 2005 and 2008.

But apparently Obama’s too busy conducting two foreign wars or trying to reassemble the shattered economy or something. The president also missed a chance to throw out the first pitch at the home opener of his beloved Chicago White Sox on Tuesday because he was in Iraq, the site of one of those two foreign wars.

Obama will get to enjoy at least one baseball-related perk of the presidency next week when he meets with the World Series champion Phillies on Tuesday. Maybe he’ll take credit for their victory of the Tampa Bay Rays last October, a win Obama predicted on the campaign trail.

– Jeffrey Young