President Barack Obama met with the Los Angeles Lakers at the White House today but, in what historians are calling the biggest diplomatic blunder since the Bay of Pigs, failed to mention Adam Morrison's critical contributions to the Lakers' 2009 NBA championship. Although Kobe Bryant earned recognition from the president for his competitiveness, Finals MVP award and becoming the youngest player to score 25,000 points in his career, and Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol drew compliments for their efforts to raise humanitarian funds for Haiti, Morrison's name was not included in Obama's remarks.
As is clear from the picture above, the mustachioed small forward's visage registered pure shock and disgust at this bewildering turn of events.
NBA observers agree that without Morrison's in-your-shirt defense and multifaceted offensive game, the Lakers would likely have fallen to the Utah Jazz in the first round of last year's playoffs. Yet White House spokesman Robert Gibbs downplayed Morrison's omission from the president's speech:
I haven't had a chance to speak with the president about why he chose not to mention Mr. Morrison. It's possible he plans to pay tribute to Adam in his upcoming State of the Union address. As soon as I know something, I'll post in it in the Silver Screen and Roll comments section.
How this bizarre rebuff of Morrison, an icon to basketball fans worldwide, will affect the president's approval ratings and relations with foreign governments is yet to be seen. Reached for comment, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele took direct aim at the White House:
This is yet another example of how President Obama and his cadre of left-wing elites are out of touch with regular Americans.... slow, awkward, athletically unskilled Americans. Also, what's up with Andrew Bynum? The Lakers should trade that clown for someone who plays a little D.