Throughout our country's history, sports have often influenced the course of presidential politics.

John F. Kennedy's image of youthful athleticism helped carry him to the White House, and Teddy Roosevelt's reputation as an avid outdoorsman made him an icon for the conservationist crowd. George W. Bush used his ownership of the Texas Rangers to vault himself to the governorship of Texas.

On the other side of history, also-rans like John Kerry (with his regrettable "Manny Ortiz" and "Lambeau Stadium" comments) can appear out of touch if they don't have at least a basic handle on this American obsession. Sports and politics collided once more during Barack Obama's campaign, as the future president notoriously drained a three-point shot on his first attempt in front of troops in Kuwait.

Obama's skills on the hardwood have been welldocumented. The footage of the new Commanderin Chief running a full-court game in his trademark grey shirt and black sweatpants has been receiving hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube, as have the various highlight reels of his days as a swingman for Hawaii's Punahou High School. At 46, Obama's old-school repertoire of pump-fakes, reverse lay-ups and finger-rolls wouldn't look out of place at Reily.

To say that Obama is the most athletic president ever would probably be a stretch, as he only played basketball recreationally after high school and a multitude of other presidents played in college. The first George Bush, H.W., played first base for Yale, and Gerald Ford and Dwight Eisenhower both played big-time college football, at Michigan and Army, respectively. Teddy Roosevelt boxed at Harvard, and Jimmy Carter ran track for Navy.

The case can be made, however, that Obama is the best athlete at the time of his presidency. Ford, who is widely regarded as the most successful athlete ever to become president, was notoriously clumsy during his stay in the Oval Office. Most presidents are simply too old to be particularly athletic. Bill Clinton jogged, but nobody would mistake Clinton for an athlete. Even JFK, the symbol of youthful vitality, was plagued by a bad back and Addison's disease during his presidency.

Basketball, an uncommon presidential pastime, appeared to strike a major chord with many Americans. The two historically red states that Obama managed to turn blue were the hoop hotbeds Indiana and North Carolina. Kentucky and Kansas, our country's other two established basketball meccas, went for McCain, but did so by a much narrower margin than by which George W. Bush defeated Kerry. If CNN tracked basketball fans as a demographic, Obama might well have won that voting block in a landslide.

Beyond the fact that our president plays a sport, his choice of game was critically important. A campaign built on change wouldn't have worked if he had been entrenched in the elitist world of Ivy League baseball. He doesn't ski or hunt, and he doesn't play hockey (all pastimes of the regrettable Kerry).

The pursuit of pickup basketball is something that millions of Americans who had never before been able to relate to their country-club presidents can now relate to. It won him friends in the gym at Harvard, support in Chicago's South Side and sanity on the campaign trail.

This election, the question wasn't who you'd rather have a beer with, but whose team you'd rather be on.

Editor's note: this was reprinted by permission of the Tulane Hullabaloo. It first appeared Jan. 30. Nick Peruffo is the son of Janet and Bob Peruffo of Carrabassett Valley and is attending Tulane University.