President Obama congratulates Cubs after NLDS victory

(AP) It’s no secret that President Barack Obama is a diehard Chicago White Sox fan. He proclaims that fact loud and clear every opportunity he gets.

Most notably, Obama defied conventional wisdom and remained biased in a baseball sense by wearing a White Sox jacket to throw out the first pitch before the 2009 All-Star game in St. Louis.

Not surprisingly, that rubbed some people the wrong way, but it firmly established where his baseball loyalties lie.

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Now though, with his White Sox nowhere near October for the seventh straight season, the President isn’t hesitating to throw his support behind the White Sox crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cubs.

Last week, he wrote in an e-mail to the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan that “With the Sox out, I’ll be rooting for the Cubs to win the Series.” No doubt, that rubbed both White Sox fans and Cubs fans the wrong way, but Obama is sticking by his word. After the Cubs NLDS victory against the St. Louis Cardinals, he tweeted out the following congratulatory note.

Congrats @Cubs – even @whitesox fans are rooting for you!

— President Obama (@POTUS) October 14, 2015

While we’re sure Obama isn’t the only White Sox fan rooting on the Cubs right now. We’re also sure there are many disgusted by the very thought. There’s definitely a strong divide between the two fanbases, and it has nothing to do with living on the northside or the southside of the city. It’s a loyalty that in some cases goes back several generations, and no bit of empathy for a 107-year World Series championship drought will change it.

By the same token, Cubs fans aren’t likely to welcome many White Sox fans to the bandwagon. The same reasons apply. They can save the city unity for the next Blackhawks Stanley Cup championship parade.

We have no doubt that Obama’s support is genuine. Even if it wasn’t, he couldn’t get away with ignoring the Cubs success. It’s one of those situations where he can’t really win, but that goes with the territory when you’re leading the free world.

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