A new poll finds the American public’s trust in its government at an all-time low, and as silly as it is, this sort of thing doesn’t help a bit.

President Obama pointedly wore a Chicago White Sox cap when he threw out the first ball at the official Major League baseball season opener in Washington, D.C. rather than the cap of the home team, the Washington Nationals, who need all the fans they can get. Last week he stopped by an actual White Sox game, and visited the broadcast booth, where he chatted with Rob Dibble on the air about his baseball loyalties, and how he was, at heart, a White Sox fan, having lived in the South Side (the North Side is Chicago Cubs territory) during his Chicago days, which extended from 1985 to when he moved into the White House—about 23 years.

Then Dibble asked the President who his favorite White Sox player was “growing up.” It was clear from his answer—stuttering, followed by the explanation that he grew up in Hawaii and thus began life as an Oakland A’s fan—that Obama couldn’t name a single one. What was clearly going on is this: the President is not a baseball fan in any way that a real baseball fan would recognize. He didn’t follow the White Sox, either before or after he moved to Chicago, and wore a White Sox cap in D.C. to pick up a couple extra votes in Illinois, or because some advisor thought it was a good idea, or maybe because he had a Chicago White Sox cap lying around.

All of this is well within the realm of politics as usual, as long as you don’t push it, which Obama did by carrying his Chigago White Sox fan guise into the White Sox broadcast booth. There he set himself up to appear as a posturing phony who was pretending to be something he was not, and promptly got caught in…the Baseball Trap.

The Baseball Trap snaps shut when a politician tries to pander to the fans of a team without respecting what it means to be a fan, claiming false loyalty not supported by actual knowledge or even interest. Massachusetts flop U.S. Senate candidate Martha Coakley stepped on the trap when she airily dismissed Boston Red Sox icon Curt Schilling as a “Yankee fan,” simultaneously proving that she was bluffing and that she lacked the common touch. Back when she was carpetbagging her way to the New York Senate seat, Hillary Clinton got herself widely ridiculed for announcing that she had “always been a Yankee fan,” though she had previously declared her loyalty to the Cubs. And while Sen. John Kerry was flubbing his run for President against George Bush in 2004, his claim of being a die-hard Red Sox fan  was undermined when his answer to a question about his favorite Red Sox player was “Manny Ortiz,” a freakish hybrid of  the two prime sluggers on the 2004 team.

What’s the harm? Not much…just providing further support for the contention that the people who run our government live by deception and deceit, are not who they pretend to be, do not mean what they say, and think the great bulk of the public are beer-swilling morons. ESPN Sportscaster Dan Patrick slammed Obama for his fan fakery, prompting some limp defenses * but accurately reflecting what many baseball fans think about these incidents. Obama was a good sport to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the season even though it was obvious (from his throw) that he has played less baseball in his life than my sister. Taking on the mantle of a White Sox fan when he was unfamiliar with the team, however, looked condescending and undermined his credibility. All he had to do was tell the truth: he’s from Chicago, but, to be honest, he’s never followed baseball very closely. Baseball fans don’t care if he’s a fan too, they just want a President who doesn’t lie to them.

Normally, I would question the competence of the President’s advisors here—“Oh, Mr. President…since you are going to claim you’re a White Sox fan, they may ask you about your favorite players. Here are a couple. You can’t go wrong by saying you love “Ozzie,” because he was a player and he’s now the manager. No, you don’t even  have to remember his last name!”—but showing incompetence in helping the President misrepresent himself doesn’t interest me today.

Of such trivial moments are reputations for untrustworthiness built. An elected official who will fake the little things is a good bet to fake the big things too.

Beware The Baseball Trap. Believe it or not, it matters.

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* Obama’s defender argues that Chicagoans root for the teams without necessarily knowing anything about them. Ths guy is no more of a fan than Obama. Fans of teams (“fan” is derived from “fanatic”) know the players. Everyone is a city supports the city’s teams, but nobody would call a Chicagoan who couldn’t name a single player “a fan.” The other defense of Obama is that, as he told Dibble while ducking his question, Obama was an Oakland A’s fan growing up. Well, while Obama was growing up in Hawaii, the White Sox and the A’s were in the same Division; anyone who followed the A’s would know the key White Sox players. How about Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk? How about current White Sox manager and the shortstop on many of those teams, Ozzie Guillen?