Obama: White Sox - Nats

Catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

Two wars. American troops fighting and dying.

An economy in shambles.

That all must be an incredible burden for Obama to bear. That's a lot of weight on his shoulders.

Nevertheless, on Friday evening, Obama was "fully engaged."

Here's a photo depicting Obama on Day 60 of the disaster in the Gulf:


President Barack Obama, wearing a White Sox baseball cap, attends a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Chicago White Sox, Friday, June 18, 2010, in Washington. His daughter Malia is at left. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama ventured from the White House for some Friday night baseball as his hometown Chicago White Sox took on the Washington Nationals and their new star pitcher, Stephen Strasburg.

Obama made a surprise trip to the Nationals' stadium in Southeast D.C. to kick off Father's Day weekend and watch Strasburg, a sensation in Washington and the world of sports, make his third career start.

Obama, accompanied by daughters Sasha and Malia and brother-in-law Konrad Ng, arrived at the stadium with an entourage that included White House senior adviser David Axelrod.

...Wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and a White Sox cap, Obama sat in a private box a few levels up behind home plate on a warm and pleasantly non-muggy night for Washington in June.

He was seen sipping a beer, laughing and pointing out to his daughters things happening on the field. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., was also spotted in the box for the sold-out game.

Fans unveiled a huge banner in right-center field before the start of the eighth inning. It read: "MLB: Boycott AZ, Move the 2011 All-Star Game" — a protest of Arizona's new immigration law. It was quickly removed.

Obama left during the ninth inning, with the score tied 1-1, but not before Strasburg set a record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in his first three major league starts. The right-hander had nine strikeouts through the fifth inning. The White Sox eventually won 2-1 after 11 innings.

It seems like Obama doesn't have a care in the world.

Of course, he doesn't make a living fishing in the Gulf. He doesn't own a business that depends on tourists flocking to the beaches there. He's not a pelican.


A pelican sits covered with oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in Barataria Bay, Louisiana just off the Gulf of Mexico June 6, 2010. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Magana)


This image from video provided by BP PLC early Saturday morning, June 19, 2010 shows oil continuing to gush millions of gallons a day, from the broken wellhead, at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/BP PLC)
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UPDATE: "As oil spews in Gulf, BP chief at UK yacht race"

BP chief executive Tony Hayward, often criticized for being tone-deaf to U.S. concerns about the worst oil spill in American history, took time off Saturday to attend a glitzy yacht race off England's Isle of Wight.

Spokeswoman Sheila Williams said Hayward took a break from overseeing BP efforts to stem the undersea gusher in Gulf of Mexico to watch his boat "Bob" participate in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

The one-day yacht race is one of the world's largest, attracting hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors.

In a statement, BP described Hayward's day off as "a rare moment of private time" and said that "no matter where he is, he is always in touch with what is happening within BP" and can direct recovery operations if required.

That is likely to be a hard sell in Gulf states struggling to deal with the up to 120 million gallons of oil that have escaped from a blown-out undersea well.

It's interesting that AP chastises Hayward for taking "a rare moment of private time."

Its article on Obama at the baseball game didn't mention that the sight of him laughing and drinking beer was "likely to be a hard sell in Gulf states struggling to deal with the up to 120 million gallons of oil that have escaped from a blown-out undersea well."

Not one word.