Continuing his pattern of appearing on every television show – and particularly, every major sporting event – that will have him, President Obama joined the halftime show of the championship game of the Final Four last night. There he was given a four-minute infomercial about what a great guy he was, in the guise of an interview with CBS’ Clark “Special K” Kellogg. If this wasn’t an in-kind contribution, nothing is.
Did Obama talk about the game? Not really. Instead, he continued his obvious campaign to reach out to female voters with gems like this:
A couple of things. Number one, how pleased I am to see women's and girl's sports develop since you and I were kids …
Number two is I bleed when those girls play. I know you must have felt the same way when they were playing. And I know your daughter plays volleyball. But watching them play, I just want them to do so well, you know, and when something goes right, it is more joy than I ever got playing myself.
Got it, ladies? The man’s got daughters, and he likes women’s sports! (Just don’t ask him to name his favorite WNBA player. He might tell you he likes them all.) Obama, not coincidentally, has spent the last month talking about the glories of Title IX, the law that requires that schools provide equal sports opportunities for women – and that has forced various men’s sports programs out of business in order to comply.
We also got a glimpse into the Ward Cleaver childhood Obama provides for his daughter Sasha, who gets to have dad coach:
They have a wonderful woman who was coaching, but she occasionally needs a little help so I'd come in and we do some clinics and teach them the basics and run some plays. I ended up being so attached to these girls. They had an end of the season tournament that they won. I can’t take too much credit for it. I really can’t.
Except on national television, where he takes credit for it, of course.
Then we got a monologue about how Obama practices his “sweet” jump shot, and a montage of Obama beating Kellogg at “POTUS” – HORSE with different letters. When Kellogg asked for a rematch, Obama deferred:
As a general rule, I make sure I retire a champion … I’m not going out like some of those folks who overstay their welcome. Maybe in my second term, when your knees are a little worse.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Mr. President.