PubliCola interviewed U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA, 1) this morning. You can read all about the serious stuff (cap & trade legislation, health care, his gubernatorial aspirations) here.

But we also asked Rep. Inslee about President Obama. Inslee told us both his general observations and shared his Obama anecdote.

Inslee said Obama is well-suited to govern during the historic financial crisis because the President is "the coolest customer I've ever seen." Inslee said that "as much as we all know how inspiring he is and all the great vision, he's this amazingly calm person. He's the person you want to shoot the free throw with one second left."

The basketball analogy seems fitting. Here's what Inslee had to say about one of his personal encounters with the Big O.

"He came to our annual caucus retreat this year," Inslee says, "and I went up to him, and I said, 'Mr. President, I've got a bone to pick with you..."

Inslee then describes how Obama looked a little wary and queasy, like, "Oh no, not another cranky Congressman."

"And I said, 'I hear you bragging about what a great basketball player you are, but until you bring your game to the House gym, you got nothing."



Jay Inslee, Ingraham H.S., Varsity Basketball, 1969

At that throw down, Inslee says, Obama took a big step back, pointed dramatically at Inslee—Ingraham H.S. Varsity Basketball, '69, by the way—and said: "I will rain threes down on you!"

The game hasn't happened yet, but Inslee says he made a customized Spalding b-ball that says "Hoopster in Chief" on it, and he's waiting to present it to the President when they face off in the gym.