fb-pixelRed Sox invited to White House - The Boston Globe Skip to main content
POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

Red Sox invited to White House

Vice President Joe Biden downplayed any interest in the presidency during a visit to Nashua on Tuesday.Jim Cole/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Obama will welcome the Red Sox to the White House next week to honor the 2013 World Series Champions.

The team will be greeted on the morning of April 1, between games that will be played in Baltimore against the Orioles.

“This visit will continue the tradition begun by President Obama of honoring sports teams for their efforts to give back to their communities,” the White House said.

Although Obama is a well- known fan of Sox of a different color — from Chicago — the Boston club is likely to get a warm welcome in the West Wing, which has a staff filled with New Englanders.

White House photographer Pete Souza — who grew up in South Dartmouth, Mass. — split off from the presidential motorcade last year to get to Fenway Park for Game 6 of the World Series.

The day after Boston won, White House press secretary Jay Carney wore a Red Sox hat to start his daily briefing.

“What a great team. What a great win. What a lot of fun. What an amazing baseball player David Ortiz is,” Carney said.

“I almost wore a beard, but I was talked out of it,” he added.

Carney later did sport a beard. Obama has one week to go before the Red Sox visit. Just enough time to get a head start on a nice, full beard.

MATT VISER

Biden touts job creation efforts on visit to N.H.

NASHUA — Stoking speculation about his presidential ambitions, Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday promoted the White House’s job creation efforts while visiting the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state of New Hampshire.

Biden joined Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez at Nashua’s New Hampshire Works Center during an afternoon swing, which was Biden’s
first appearance in the state since the last presidential contest.

While Democrats buzzed about Biden’s future, the vice president downplayed his interest in the presidency.

‘‘I’m here about jobs, not mine,’’ Biden said when asked about his ambitions while touring a Manchester business.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is considered the overwhelming favorite to win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination should she run, but Biden has not ruled out a bid of his own. He has run for the White House twice before.

New Hampshire is scheduled to host the nation’s first presidential primary in less than two years, and prospective candidates in both parties have already begun to travel there to court voters and key activists.

Democrats note that Biden has strong relationships across the state, but several of his former supporters have already begun to get behind Clinton.

‘‘Joe Biden has got more relationships in New Hampshire than just about any candidate who has run for office, next to the Clintons,’’ said New Hampshire-based Democratic operative Jim Demers.

‘‘He’s got a lot of friendships. But a lot of those people have started working with the Ready For Hillary campaign.’’

Biden offered an optimistic vision for America’s economy after touring the New Hampshire Works Center, a career center that connects unemployed workers with career counseling, computer access, and training at local businesses.

He praised Governor Maggie Hassan’s leadership: ‘‘The reason we’re here, notwithstanding what others may think, is a simple proposition: You run the best outfit in the country,’’ he told the small crowd gathered inside the Nashua center, the governor at his side.

Associated Press

Thompson named acting head of Justice legal office

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has selected Karl Remón Thompson, a counselor to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., as acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, the once-obscure agency that has become more prominent amid highly charged legal policy disputes in the war against Al Qaeda.

Because it has proved politically difficult to win Senate confirmation for the position of assistant attorney general for the office, it is possible that Thompson will serve as its acting head for the remainder of President Obama’s second term.

The role may give Thompson extraordinary behind-the-scenes power over government policies.

“During his five years with the department, Karl has distinguished himself as a lawyer of unparalleled intellect and integrity,” Holder said in a statement.

“His guidance has helped the Department navigate some of the toughest legal challenges of this administration. I’m grateful that he has agreed to lead the Office of Legal Counsel and look forward to continuing to rely on his superb judgment as he assumes this new role.”

On Monday, Holder appointed Thompson as principal deputy assistant attorney general for the office, replacing Caroline D. Krass, who was confirmed earlier this month as general counsel of the CIA. That makes Thompson its acting head, because the position of assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel is vacant.

Obama has not nominated anyone to fill that vacancy, which became open when Virginia A. Seitz quietly stepped down in December.

The Office of Legal Counsel acts like an internal Supreme Court for the executive branch, issuing binding opinions about whether proposed actions would be lawful.

Its opinions may be overruled by the attorney general or the president, but that is rare.

Thompson graduated from Harvard in 1991. He received a PhD in political theory from the University of Cambridge in 1998, and a JD from the University of Chicago in 2000. He was later a clerk for Judge David S. Tatel on the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia, and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court.

NEW YORK TIMES