It’s become no secret that Barack Obama won’t do tough interviews any longer, and it was the theme of our Obamateurism yesterday, too.  This one from Daniel Halper deserves a place in the OOTD canon, for an additional reason.  Once again, rather than do an interview with a real news reporter — even a local one — President Obama called into a Cleveland sports-talk radio station to discuss his campaign, and right away the conversation went to the issues that matter most to voters in that crucial swing state:

“Mr. President, you were in Columbus the other day. We saw you do O-H-I-O,” the host said. “Do they make you do that?

“They don’t have to make me do it. I do it on my own,” Obama responded. “I’ve been here so much that I’m a professional Ohio State cheerleader.”

“Sounds good,” said the sportscaster.

A professional?  I think a professional would have figured out how to spell out O-H-I-O on the first try:

A word of advice to @BarackObama: it's "O-H-I-O" that has 18 electoral votes, not "O-I-H-O" pic.twitter.com/babXzAtp

— Christopher Maloney (@CHRISMAL0NEY) August 22, 2012

Not to worry, though — the professional then proceeded to talk about the big issue facing voters in three weeks:

And President Obama advocates for affordability of sports tickets. “It is important, though, to make sure that tickets, for example, stay affordable. And, you know, I do get concerned when I look at some of the major league teams across sports that, you know, you’re starting to price out a lot of families.”

Oi.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!