There are only seven weeks left in the administration of President Barack Obama, but before he leaves the White House, there is one last thing that he wants to do.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the Obama administration is trying to work out a scheduled visit by the World Series champion Chicago Cubs before the president leaves office on Jan. 20. The compressed timeframe is making a visit difficult, but the president wants to fete his hometown team before he leaves office.
“Obviously the challenging part is with an outgoing president, and now that we’re in the offseason, it makes it extremely challenging to coordinate with the players being on vacation,” Cubs spokesman Julian Green told the Tribune Monday. “It’s been difficult to do.”
Most of the Cubs are off at their vacation homes and fully into their offseason routines. Some players have bigger plans, with Kris Bryant planning on getting married in the early part of January.
Between those plans, and the transition planning going on at the White House before Donald Trump takes over the Oval Office on Jan. 20, time is quickly running out to schedule a visit, but that isn’t stopping the two sides from potentially trying.
A Kenwood native and noted Sox fan, Obama initially invited the Cubs with a tweet after they won the World Series in November, writing "It happened: @Cubs win World Series. That's change even this South Sider can believe in. Want to come to the White House before I leave?"
“Regardless of who is in the White House, or who may be working for the administration, certainly this has been something that would be viewed as an honor,” Green told the Tribune. “It’s just a difficult exercise in scheduling.”
Chicago Baseball
If the Cubs end up deciding to wait until they play the Washington Nationals next season to make a visit to the White House, that trip would occur late in June.
