Stymied in his attempt to take over health care, will President Obama attempt to take over College Football next?

Because there isn't anything more important for them to be doing...

The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review.

In the letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that the Justice Department is reviewing Hatch's request and other materials to determine whether to open an investigation into whether the BCS violates antitrust laws.

"Importantly, and in addition, the administration also is exploring other options that might be available to address concerns with the college football postseason," Weich wrote, including asking the Federal Trade Commission to review the legality of the BCS under consumer protection laws.

...

Weich made note of the fact that President Barack Obama, before he was sworn in, had stated his preference for a playoff system. In 2008, Obama said he was going to "to throw my weight around a little bit" to nudge college football toward a playoff system, a point that Hatch stressed when he urged Obama last fall to ask the department to investigate the BCS.

Mixed blessings

I'm not sure which of the enumerated powers of the Federal Government justifies this:

The political football that is the Bowl Championship Series lands in Congress this week as lawmakers examine whether the system for awarding a national championship is fair...

Several lawmakers are pushing bills on the BCS. Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, for example, has sponsored legislation that would prevent the NCAA from calling a college football game a "national championship" unless it results from a playoff system...President Barack Obama has said he would prefer an eight-team playoff system.

Because, you know, they don't have anything more important¹ to be working on...





¹ - This is almost a prototypical mixed emotions situation. On the one hand, this is an outrageous usurpation of authority to which Congress has no legitimate claim, there's no philosophical justification for Federal intervention in this issue, and the country certainly faces issues which ought be higher on the priority lists of our elected representatives than the BCS. On the other hand, they're doing less damage when they're grandstanding on issues like this rather than economic issues.