JEFF ZELENY
ESSAY


WASHINGTON - The basketball hoop is coming out of hibernation.

At several junctures during his presidential race, Barack Obama spoke wistfully about the prospect of playing basketball on the White House grounds, where there is a seldom-used backboard on the southwest lawn. In nine days, he will have his chance when he becomes the first president who is just as likely to suit up and head for the court - not the bleachers - when the dribbling starts.

And some basketball fans are waiting with such anticipation, you would think college tournament season was coming two months early.

“The fact that he is a basketball fan and player will be translated around the world,’’said John Doleva, president of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the game.“Basketball is an international language.
There is a global American message here.’’

The commander in chief’s sport of choice, whether it is swinging a golf club or riding a mountain bike or loping around a running track, goes a long way toward establishing the presidential image and identity. But the athletic pursuits of a president are typically photographed only when strategically beneficial, with the image of Senator John Kerry windsurfing - after accusations that his political positions changed with the direction of the wind - burned into the minds of political handlers.

It is unlikely, of course, that basketball will do much to simplify the multitude of worldly challenges facing Mr.Obama. But closer to home, could he use the court as a place for some oldfashioned persuasion? Could concerns over his economic recovery plan, for example, be settled on the free-throw line? Could his health care proposals be discussed over a pickup game?

There will, at the very least, be a long line of people across the capital dusting off their sneakers and tripping over themselves for a chance to sweat with Mr.Obama, who has been playing basketball since growing up in Hawaii four decades ago.

“If the president calls, you have to accept,’’said Kevin Johnson, a former guard for the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns who was elected last year as mayor of Sacramento, California.

What would he say if the president invited him to a game?“That would be his first mistake in office. I’d have to skunk him.’’

Few presidential races have contained as many sporting references as Mr.Obama’s. Not only was the bigscreen television in his campaign bus locked on the sports network ESPN, his advisers sometimes sought to create the aura of a championship team.

Mr.Johnson, who has talked about sports and politics with Mr.Obama, doubted that the new president would have time to play many pickup games at the White House, but he said the president-elect would influence young Americans in immeasurable ways simply because he’s got game.

“Basketball is available to all people,’’he said.“It tells a kid in third grade, no matter what neighborhood they live in, that they can certainly become the president of the United States.’’