YURI GRIPAS/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Obama rallied his own election motto to welcome the Chicago Cubs after their historic World Series win to the White House, calling it the “audacity of hope.”
“I will say to the Cubs it took you long enough,” he said. “I mean I only have four days left,” Obama said looking at his watch.
The president added that among his promises made when he campaigned in 2008, “even I was not crazy enough to suggest that during these eight years we would see the Cubs win the World Series.”
The Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians 4-3 after coming back from a 3-1 deficit, becoming the first team to do so since the Kansas City Royals in 1985.
Obama also addressed why he decided to host the Cubs on Martin Luther King day and how sports have “the power to bring us together even when we’re divided.”
“There is a direct line between Jackie Robinson and me standing here” he said. “Sports has a way sometimes of changing hearts in a way that politics or business hasn’t. Sometimes it’s just a matter of us being able to escape and relax..but sometimes it’s about [finding something better in us].”
Cubs manager Theo Epstein offered the president a “midnight pardon” to become a Cubs fan. He also presented him with gifts including two jerseys–one just with “Chicago” in case he has problems wearing a Cubs Jersey– and a lifetime pass to Wrigley Field.
President Obama said the gifts were “the best swag I’ve gotten as president.”
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