As I recall, JFK had the pool as therapy for his chronically bad back.

I think Nixon had the pool covered and had the bowling alley installed.

But, I have no proof of either.

ETA, I don't think the Secret Service would want him in a pick up game on the corner if he's elected.

Well, it seems as if I had some information incorrect.
There is an outdoor pool.
There was an indoor pool. It is now covered by the press room.
And there is an one lane bowling alley.
Not sure that is even big enough for a half court.

And if I could find this, just because I was courious and in truth not 100% sure of what I posted, I am sure any newsperson involved in writting a story about this could find it as well.

Links for background:
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west...efing-room.htm
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/grounds/pool.htm
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/floo...ling-alley.htm

Lets not forget that the White House has a movie room and they can get what ever movie they want at any time:
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/east-wing/theater.htm

It's mentioned here: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS...l?eref=edition

It was also on AOL:
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/obama-f...7?ecid=RSS0001

Thank you.
IMVHO/POV, AP writer and/or editor could have done a better job with it.
Words, from what I can recall seeing/hearing, are correct. However the context is weak and could have been more fleshed out.

My response to this....There's not one already?

And honestly, what is the big deal?

The bowling alley was added as a birthday gift to President Truman.

Until recently the Press room was on top of the indoor swimming pool that was built for FDR!

The movie theater was built in the 1940s.......Though the first movie ever shown in the White House was "Birth of a Nation" in 1915.....IMO one of the most horrific movies of all time.

I really don't see why a basketball court is a big deal!

I think that putting in a basketball court is a pretty good idea. It shows that he is interested in being athletic/active, that he can be a "team player", that he is interested in something that you can find in any nieghborhood - regardless of demographics. I mean, you can find a pickup game on school fields, driveways, dead end streets, in the burbs and the cities. It's a societal equalizer.

I think it speaks to the younger (post boomer) generation in many ways. And if it's his "thing", as opposed to jogging, I don't think that it's an unreasonable accomodation.

And regarding jogging - anyone remember the SNL skit when Phil Hartman was Bill Clinton, he was jogging with his secret service, and stopped at a McDonalds? He was eating french fries off people's plates....funny stuff!

I think you're looking just a little too much into it. I really don't think the idea of him putting in a basketball court, IF he is elected, is one that shows his commitment to social equality and his willingness to work with others. It means he likes to play basketball. Most in-the-spotlight basketball players are whiny, overpaid, ball hogs, haha.

All the bullisht aside, this has gotten the reacton that it's gotten (not by people in this thread) because:

BASKETBALL = BLACK
BASKETBALL = STREET
BASKETBALL = NONELITE
BASKETBALL = LOWER CLASS
blahzey blah

The Repubs and nonRepubs who have made this into a silly "issue" are using these images because of the threat of a black man, who is a Democrat, possibly becoming POTUS. Politics is never just about politics.

see, i thought this was a given and we just weren't addressing it. i mean this is where my head was from the start.

Obama is a good man

It's a given to people who aren't in denial. :) If not for denial, this would be nontopic.

EXACTLY. It's also the same thing with Fox News referrring to Michelle Obama as a "baby mama." It's not enough that both Obamas are double-Ivy graduates who have worked at one of the nation's top law firms, or that they're overachievers by anyone's standard. For all that, the media wants to knock them down to look ghetto. I experience it in my daily life, and I'm sick and tired of it.

On one side:
This is yet another reminder to minorities that no matter how far you've come, you're still an (insert slur for racial, gender, or sexual orientation minority group) in "most" people's eyes. A black lawyer getting pulled over for DWB gets the same kind of reminders. It's just a question of when and how you'll be reminded. So we can try harder than the rest to be on level ground, but we must always remember not to get lost or swayed by the nonsense.

On the other side:
This is a way of frightening whites into believing that the Obamas aren't any "different" than any other black person who they wouldn't want working for their company, playing with their kids, or coming over for dinner. Just a regular black person in a suit who "talks white."

"Look!! He's going to have a BASKETBALL COURT with loud blasting music. He wasn't joking!! Don't believe that. He will also hold fish fries and Madea family reunions at the White House. We've got bigger fish to fry, (white) Americans, and can't let this country become GHETTOIZED!"

Absolutely true, but it doesn't make much sense to hook it to Obama until he did it himself. Obama seems to be incredibly elitist, higher class, and the least street person. He's not even fully black.

I'm not saying it's good, but it seems Obama postures himself to be a "regular black guy", which is not the case. The little "fist bump" and talking about "baby mamma" and putting in a basketball court seems to be evidences of this. He's not a commoner, but pretends to be. Dubya did this sort of thing. Bill Clinton did this to a much greater degree. The only difference is Obama tries to play to his "stereotypical black" roots, whereas Dubya and Clinton were cowboy/country respectively.

Also, I am one of many who were annoyed when Obama was celebrated as some well-speaking orator as if people expected him to be saying "heebajeeba...Ibeeyoubeee."

Celebrate his accomplishments if you must but don't celebrate him for essentially speaking well and having a charisma that wouldn't be so celebrated if he was the (typical) white male candidate.