Now THAT'S Change We Can Believe In

The bar is low, so it could be that we're being wowed in contrast.
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But, jeez, they were both really, really good. And seemed completely authentic.

THERE you are, KT -- how's the book coming?

Obama can start by discussing a playoff with McCain today.

I've read that Negro League franchise owners weren't big fans of integration in MLB. This is obviously not in the same moral universe, but in college football, it's those darn bowl committees that prevent a sensible resolution of things. Can't we just keep the usual bowl games, and then recast the top 8 bowls as the championship bracket? No need to chuck the term "Cotton Bowl," or even the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl, if keeping 'em can get us from here to there.
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Yes, this would mean fewer preconference games against Indiana State. (And Appalachian State-- ha ha, Mich fans). The sport would survive.

There is one reason and one reason only why there will NEVER be a playoff system in college football. Corporate Sponsorships
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Corporations that sponsor all of the bowl games have long posited that if there was a true national championship game that all of the other bowls would lose money. Thats why they intially opposed the BCS. But the BCS is structured in a way that ensures that every major bowl game gets two highly ranked team at the end of the season.
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Now with a playoff format you would completely discard the bowl game system as it stands now and even if you tried to incorporate some bowls into the earlier rounds of the playoffs, no big time Corporate Sponsors are going to underwrite those games knowing that they are just the preliminaries. It would be like people paying millions of dollars for ads during the NFL playoffs instead of waiting to spend it all for ads for the Superbowl.
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Obama can go ahead and chalk this one up to a loss because big business will not go along with it. Ask yourself a question. If all of the lower divisions of college football ALWAYS use a playoff system to name their champion, does anybody really believe that its something the D1 schools couldnt come up with if they really wanted to? Money talks and Obama's gonna take a walk on this one

And seemed completely authentic.
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I've always said that Jay Ackroyd has it in him to be the next Joe Klein...

This was definitely one of the best Obama interviews yet. Especially the parts with Michelle. (I fully admit to being completely jealous of the rapport they've got going on.)

G-d D-mn the BCS! It's in the Bible! The U.S. of NCAA! America's mid-major conferences have come home to roost!

I hope people watch the full interview. It was quite good.

The best part of the whole interview was the fact that, unless Barack was talking with his hands, he was holding Michelle's hand. It's just one more small thing that makes them all the more human.

Of course, Wifey and I get ribbed about it all the time, because we do it just as much now as we did 34 years ago.

jay: "But, jeez, they were both really, really good. And seemed completely authentic." I'll second EE's excellent /snark on that.
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But seriously, it goes back to that Kroft interview with the senior campaign staff a new hours after Obama won. Plouffe noted that they had the advantage of not having daily campaign message meetings in response to day's events - because Obama was perfectly clear on the message from the very first. I saw that interview as full confirmation that Obama is precisely who he appears to be, and will run our government as he ran his campaign - with competence, respect, human values, and grade a strategic thinking.
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If you aren't trying to remember the talking point of the day and are, instead, speaking from deeply held and well researched beliefs, than you sound authentic cause you are.

He does need to tuck his tie in.

pourme
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You my friend are a snarkologist! lol

I've always said that Jay Ackroyd has it in him to be the next Joe Klein...
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Don't know how to take that, Elvis. Do you think I'm being suckered? .
It's certainly possible. But if they are in character, they're really good at it.

wvng--
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The biggest innovation of the Obama campaign was the abandonment of concern over the daily news cycle..
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Even the Wright crisis was handled over a couple of days.
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And they stuck with their plan the entire way. For me, this is a good omen, that he won't be lurching when in office.

Don't know how to take that, Elvis. Do you think I'm being suckered?
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Oh, it's just pure obnoxiousness for sport on my part. Spelling it out would have killed the humor, but I wholly agree with your comment, actually. And I do think that your clear and well-informed commentary is Good for America, though I guess it's unlikely that you'll be known as the "next Joe Klein."
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It's tough, because character of presidents does matter. I just have no faith in the media to report accurately on politicians' characters (see, e.g., reporting on Bush, 2001-06; reporting on McCain, 1998-2008). Your comment about the Obama campaign stressing strategy over tactics, the long term over the short term, is true, and a more meaningful reflection of Obama's character than was McCain's willingness to talk to the media about his favorite book and baseball player.

On character, it's been a long time since we've had a president without a glaring character flaw. Maybe GHW Bush. Maybe Eisenhower. But that, of course, means the adultery thing that took down Clinton doesn't matter for Eisenhower, and probably not for Bush.
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Ford, come to think of it, qualifies. But he was a bad president.
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I can't imagine Obama playing games with a cigar with a staffer. I don't get the feeling I'm being scammed. But that may just mean he's better at it than Nixon was.

Jayackroyd I know its hard not to be cynical about are politicians but here are some clues that Our president is one the good ones. First he is a genuinely nice person -- how do I know? Look at the people he surrounds himself with -- compare Steve (take no prisoners at all cost) Schmidt and Axelrod and Plouffe. When it was raining Gibbs offered Wallace his press sight because it was covered. Nice people usually like to have nice people around them. NO drama Obama didn't just mean no controversy -- it also meant not to disrespect colleagues. Of course they felt they could be tough but they didn't have to be inhuman.

Amen, Dee! It's always bothered me that Dubya didn't get discredited for all his top staff being first-rate a$$holes -- Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, etc.

On character, it's been a long time since we've had a president without a glaring character flaw.

That helps explain why so much of the opposition to him is based on paranoid fantasies. As in "Yes, but what do we REALLY know about him?"
It would be amusing if it weren't so disturbing.

Oh God what is it going to be like. The only way the MSM is going to able to satisfy their need for constant drama is to focus on every wingnut fantasy they can get their hands on. After all its not like they are used to a narrative about competence and integrity --they won't know how to write about it. So I guess we are in for more conspiracies about Indonesia and the missing birth certificate.

I agree, Dee. His and Michelle's mutual affection and respect seemed palpable. His being happy to be home with the kids in his own bed seemed genuine. Her calling him out on enjoying doing the dishes was cute. And it didn't seem fake.
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He was funny on the college playoff thing. and on substantive matters he was perfectly willing to discuss their complexity. All really good.
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The only way the MSM is going to able to satisfy their need for constant drama is to focus on every wingnut fantasy they can get their hands on. After all its not like they are used to a narrative about competence and integrity --they won't know how to write about it.
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It's not gonna stick. We've seen that already.
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Clinton had enough shadiness in his past that some of the false stuff stuck. This is gonna be true for most small state governors. (See Palin>) There is so much petty corruption, and there aren't 99 other governors and their staffs getting in the way.
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Nor is he gonna have staffers commit suicide and get accused of murder. Nor is he gonna get accused of dealing cocaine. It's not gonna stick. They pulled out what they had and it was, well, not much.
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In some ways he greatly benefits from his short record.

Yep, Dee, the msm will undoubtedly make itself busy reporting wingnut fantasies in the pursuit of balance.

"In some ways he greatly benefits from his short record." He also benefits from his superior character.