President Obama urged Chicago’s sports teams to hurry up and join the Blackhawks in coming to the White House as reigning champs in their sport.
“To the Bulls, Bears, Cubs, White Sox— I am term-limited, so you guys have got to get moving,” he said Monday at an event at the White House honoring the Blackhawks’s Stanley Cup victory.
{mosads}”I need to see you here soon. Championships belong in Chicago.”
It was the second trip to the Obama White House for the Blackhawks, as the president happily noted.
“Since I’ve been president, only one team has brought a world championship to my hometown of Chicago. And now the Blackhawks have done it twice.”
Several fellow Illinoisans were in the audience to cheer their team: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), House Hockey Caucus Co-Chairman Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. Gov. Pat Quinn (D-Ill.) couldn’t make it but sent two Iraqi war vets to represent him.
The team presented the president with a jersey, and Chairman Rocky Wirtz joked of his players: “They are gifted athletes who not only win championships, but go a long way in breaking gridlock if you allow them into Congress.”
Obama laughed and said: “That’s true. I should try a hockey stick during the shutdown — see how that worked.”
The president also chided goalie Corey Crawford who, when addressing a crowd at Chicago’s Grant Park after a victory parade, dropped a couple of f-bombs.
“We were originally going to let Corey Crawford say a few words today,” he said, “but we thought we’d keep this family event family-friendly.”
Then he joked about his former White House chief of staff turned Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has a reputation for profanity.
“You guys have been hanging out with Rahm Emanuel too much.”
— This post was updated at 4:03 p.m.