Opinion: Barack Obama: He’s no java junkie

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Barack Obama held forth on all sorts of key subjects in an interview aired this morning on NBC’s ‘Today Show,’ such as:

Beatles or Rolling Stones? (Rolling Stones.)

Coffee or tea? (Tea.)

Basketball or bowling? ‘Not bowling,’ said the candidate, who posted a paltry 37 in a campaign demonstration in the lanes the other day (and whose love of hoops has become evident during his presidential quest). ‘You saw those gutter balls. That only shows that I’m willing to try new things.’’

Asked if he was trying to lose, he showed the true soul of a politician (in case there was any doubt), saying: ‘I never try to lose.’

Obama, obviously cognizant that recent calls by some of his backers for Hillary Clinton to give up her candidacy seems only to energize her camp (and let her cast herself as a fighter who never quits), reiterated his view that ...

his rival has every right to stay in the race.

Asked by NBC’s Ann Curry if he was just being ‘gracious’ in saying that, Obama replied: ‘I am stating what I think is central to our democratic tradition, which is everybody has a right to run. We won 11 contests in a row, and that didn’t knock her out. And that’s some tenacity on her part.

‘As long as she’s in, I don’t take anything for granted.’

He declined to talk about any possible ticket with Clinton: ‘I think it is very premature for either of us to talk about vice presidential nominees, because right now we’re both in the thick of a battle to win the nomination.’

Asked if he prays daily, Obama said: ‘Sometimes twice a day -– depends on the day.’

-- Mark Silva

Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune’s Washington bureau writes for the Swamp blog.