President Barack Obama, a huge basketball fan, will treat British Prime Minister David Cameron to a taste of March Madness on Tuesday as the duo heads to Ohio, a swing state, to attend an NCAA men’s tournament basketball game. There will be two tip off games at the tournament in Dayton, Ohio. During halftime of the first game, Mississippi Valley State versus Western Kentucky, the two leaders will conduct a joint interview. The president revealed his picks for the brackets last year to ESPN, but it is unclear if Obama will reveal this year’s picks during his interview with Cameron on Tuesday. The game will not be the end of Cameron’s visit. On Wednesday, the world leaders will be back in Washington to conduct extensive meetings about a range of topics, including Syria and Afghanistan, the White House reported.
Last week, White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said, “There’s a strong working relationship and actually even a strong personal bond between Prime Minister Cameron and President Obama. We maintain a special and a essential friendship and partnership with the government and people of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is our NATO ally and our closest partner in the world.” The two leaders also co-authored an op-ed piece on Tuesday in The Washington Post titled “An alliance the world can count on.” In the article, Obama and Cameron said, “The alliance between the United States and Great Britain is a partnership of the heart, bound by the history, traditions and values we share. But what makes our relationship special — a unique and essential asset — is that we join hands across so many endeavors. Put simply, we count on each other and the world counts on our alliance.”
