Upsetting observers who hoped that he would take a more aggressive approach in the last year of his presidency, Barack Obama has introduced a politically calculated, cautious Supreme Court nomination March Madness championship prediction in a White House ceremony, ESPN reports, announcing that he expects the University of Kansas men’s basketball team to win the NCAA Tournament.
The president’s own staff noted his unwillingness to take bold stances on bracket issues early in his presidency, an approach that continued into his second term even as it become clear that his logical, consensus-embracing style would rarely be as successful as hoped in today’s chaotic basketball environment.
A Republican source attacked Obama’s choice of Kansas as “divisive,” suggesting that it “shows a fundamental, suspiciously Kenyan-like misunderstanding of what makes America’s college basketball tournament great.” Pressed on how the relatively unimaginative choice of a widely respected, experienced judge like Merrick Garland team like Kansas could be considered such an egregious and hostile act, the source responded that “it doesn’t matter if it makes sense” because “it’s what we were going to say no matter what.”
