With the country in a downward economic spiral and two wars abroad, and partisanship still running rampant during President Barack Obama's first month in office, Marc Berman seems to believe that the president should have taken time out to be in Phoenix for the NBA all-star game, to prove to the nation that he is a serious basketball fan.

"It was ironic that Mr. Basketball, President Obama did not attend the All-Star Game but McCain did," Berman writes on his blog for the conservative New York Post.