For all of its eloquence and admirable candor, the unusual retirement statement (see video below) by Indiana's Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh also revealed a stunningly keen grasp of the obvious -- for millions of Americans watching the playground antics of the elected clowns in D.C. with bipartisan head-shaking.

"For some time," Bayh said, "I've had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress; too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people's business is not getting done."

No kidding? He's a real Sherlock Holmes.

It's no diminishment of the long years of successful public service and politics in a Republican state by Democrats Bayh and his....

...father, Birch, to point out that well back in the last century another former Democratic governor, named Jimmy Carter, campaigned to bring fresh air to the federal swamp. That worked out so well that voters sent Republicans to the White House for the next 12 years.

Ross Perot was an outsider. So was Bill Clinton of Arkansas. George W. Bush of Texas campaigned to change the tone in Washington.

Why? Because, despite the utter silliness of one person promising to change a city's political culture, polls....

Two things out of President Obama's sudden news conference today. Well, 2.5 things.

The half-thing is politicians love these quick-hit confrontations with the press because the media have not had the usual days of prep time to phrase the toughest possible questions where the exits are hidden and dodging is difficult. So the politician has the element of surprise and offense.

Obama even admitted the same, perhaps accidentally. His final words today: "That was pretty good. Thanks." Not the comment of someone just waterboarded.

Now, the other two points: One, remember earlier this year after the Massachusetts Republican upset in November when the president didn't really apologize for investing virtually all of 2009 on healthcare when the country was thinking jobs, as in J-O-B-S? And why doesn't this smooth-talking Windy City guy get it?

But the Democratic White House occupant did produce the expected rhetorical pivot for the New Year and say that for 2010 Job One was going to be Jobs. By golly. Also the....

Some journalists are suckers for what are called "tick-tocks," minute-by-minute rundowns of who-was-doing-what-where-and-when during some dramatic moments, which can be told in a pseudo-exciting I-was-almost-there running narrative mode.

It's a big media fave. And press people for professional pols routinely keep notes just in case a "tick-tock" device is desired that -- hey, who knows? -- may coincidentally portray their boss in an authentic, favorable light without appearing to be trying to do precisely that. Otherwise, why hand out the seemingly inside but actually superficial details?

Then, suddenly, in the third paragraph, what seemed like a routine morning blog item took an unexpected and dramatic turn that would alter participants' lives for the rest of the day. Stunned Ticket readers learned that:

We are, on the other hand, patsies for stats stories, those compilations of assorted, eclectic numbers which, taken together, paint a revealing larger picture like some grand piece of pointillist art. (No, we're not; this being interactive, you can just go look it up yourself).

Anyway, thank the journalism gods today for Mark Knoller of CBS News, who among his many duties invests 365 days a year stashing this stuff away before presenting his waiting world of fans with this gift of media myrrh.

Thanks to Mark, for instance, we now know that in his first 365 days in the White House, President Obama gave 411 speeches, remarks or comments, 178 of them alongside his trusty aide, Teleprompter.

We know that Obama gave 42 news conferences, including five stand-up solos at the White House, 23 town hall meetings (it only seemed like 2,300) and more foreign trips than any other freshman president (10 journeys to 21 countries). 

The short-term senator also did an astounding 158 separate one-on-one interviews, revealing precisely what his strategists think Obama does best.

Partisanly, his first year Obama did 28 political fund-raisers, harvesting more than $27.25 million, compared to Republican George W. Bush, who reaped $48 million from six events. Hmmm, those Republicans.

Thinking his good-talking karma could rub off, Obama did seven campaign rallies for three Democrats (Jon Corzine, Creigh Deeds and Martha Coakley). All of them probably wish he hadn't; all of them lost.

When Obama took the oath of office, the United States' national debt was $10.63 trillion; today, it's $12.32 trillion.

We're only tempting you with these statistical Knoller nuggets. He's got them all over here. Well worth a look.

-- Andrew Malcolm

For the 2,428th time, please click here to receive Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. You can also go to our new Facebook fan page here.

Photo: Jim Young / Reuters (Obama helps fellow Democrat Corzine lose the New Jersey governor's race).

Virtually every day, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs meets with the media -- fewer of whom actually have printing presses these days -- to answer assorted serious, superficial and silly questions about the president and his administration's doings or not-doings.

These sessions are broadcast on television and radio during the day, which makes access to them problematic for Ticket readers who actually have employment still and for our many followers overseas.

As a new regular feature on The Ticket, we'll be publishing unedited excerpts from these sessions to provide at least a brief feel for the ongoing issues, discussions and relationship between the media and the White House's official talking face. As you'll notice over time, sometimes the spokesman's answers -- much of them prefabricated during daily prep -- are not really designed to clarify.

With the president holding another of his three-hour strategy meetings today on what to do with the Afghanistan mess, many questions focused on that historically turbulent land and the evolving new policies to be announced, likely before Obama's long Asian trip next month.

More troops? More troops but fewer troops than expected? How to best politically package the new and improved Afghan strategy from the less-new Afghan strategy announced last March before American casualties began to soar and poll numbers begin to dip?

Today's excerpts come in two parts, separated by a line like this ..........................

-- Andrew Malcolm

The Ticket gives its own briefings several times a day. Don't miss any. Get Twitter alerts of each by clicking here. Or follow us @latimestot  And we're also on Facebook right here.

Excerpts from the White House briefing session with Robert Gibbs

Q. The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said today that his government is ready to send 500 more troops under certain conditions.  And the BBC is reporting that the U.S. government told....

Someday a world leader, perhaps even an American, is going to walk out of one of these monthly G-8, G-20, G-28 summits and pronounce it a colossal disaster, a complete waste of time to gather two dozen guys and a couple of women in suits at the cost of millions of dollars (or more valuable currencies) with thousands of assembled security, staff functionaries and protesters to talk for two days, eat well and pose for pictures in exotic places like Pittsburgh to consult on the same problems over and over.

But not this time.

If these things accomplish so much foundation-laying, where's the ensuing superstructure, a checklist of concrete accomplishments? And why, then, do they need so many more?

Anyway, with the predictability of the Chicago Cubs' autumnal fade, President Obama pronounced his G-20 summit a success this afternoon, laying important groundwork for the future and bringing leaders together in agreement on things their staffs agreed on back home weeks ago. Obama was especially pleased with his new favorite city of Pittsburgh.

He saw progress on economic recovery, and more government financial regulations, curbing excessive executive pay and human greed. He called for "a new era of engagement that yields real results for our people." He professed to see progress in allied solidarity about the need to be talking with Iran about its ongoing nuclear weapons program, while skipping over the question about a possible military response.

He minimized the Pittsburgh protesters as a smaller crowd than at other summits, and he maintained his commitment to denying Al Qaeda safe haven in Afghanistan (calling it a national security need of the U.S.) but didn't say much about establishing a stable nation there. As for polls revealing war support melting like a Tennessee iceberg, Obama said that he understood war weariness and that people should ask tough questions because so was he before committing his second troop surge there.

As for the pancakes, the president regretted not getting to Pamela's, which will get him on TV all over western Pennsylvania. And that'll be a good photo op come 2012.

Here, as provided by the White House, are the president's complete remarks and answers to a few media questions. And there's also a news summary video below.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of politics, get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item by clicking here. Or follow us    @latimestot

Remarks and Answers by President Obama at G-20 News Conference, Pittsburgh, Sept. 25, 2009

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Let me, first of all, thank Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, County Executive Dan Onorato, and the people of Pittsburgh for being just extraordinary hosts. Last night during the dinner that I had with world leaders, so many of them commented on the fact that sometime in the past they had been to Pittsburgh -- in some cases it was 20 or 25 or 30 years ago -- and coming back they were so impressed with the revitalization of the city.

A number of them remarked on the fact that it pointed to lessons that....

Not surprising perhaps after President Obama gave Russian President Dmitry Medvedev the gift of scrapping the U.S. missile defense plans for Europe recently, but the two men emerged from their bilateral meeting in New York this afternoon all smiles, chummy and first-namey.

No evidence that the two talked about how excited the Washington Redskins are to face the still winless Detroit Lions this weekend.

Besides all the efficiencies and cost-effectiveness that Obama claimed for the missile decision that left Poland and the Czech Republic swinging in the wind, the unspoken desire of Obama is that Russia finally put some real pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear weapons development. Since nothing else has worked so far. This would provide helpful evidence for Obama's claim that talking diplomatically can bring some positive results.

Of course, nothing concrete emerged today. Medvedev apparently agreed to consider such new efforts. Key word there: consider. Obama raised the possibility of additional serious sanctions, but did not elaborate.

The clock, however, is running on Iran's weapons gains -- and Israel's patience.

Obama cited progress in jointly reducing U.S. and Russian weapons stockpiles. He didn't say he'd looked into Medvedev's eyes, but Obama did say he feels they have an "excellent working relationship."

For his part, Medvedev mentioned "very positive changes" in the Russia-U.S. relationship, presumably contrasting them with the previous administration of Republican George W. Bush, whose toughening Russian stance and missile defense plans Obama has now abandoned.

The full transcript of their remarks -- and one reporter's hasty question -- is below.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of missiles, get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item by registering here. Or follow us @latimestot

Remarks by Presidents Obama and Medvedev after their bilateral meeting, New York City,
as provided by the White House
PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, first of all, I want to welcome President Medvedev to the United States and New York. As you all know, I had the great pleasure of visiting him in Moscow [see photo above], and he extended extraordinary hospitality to both myself and my family. More importantly, we got a lot of work done that I think will be bearing fruit in the months and years to come.

And I have to say publicly how much I appreciate the excellent working relationship that....

With two wars already underway, it was unlikely today that U.S. President Obama was going to announce any military action against Canada. The two countries haven't fought since the Civil War when the British allowed Confederate guerrilla raids into New England.

And sure enough the 44th president didn't.

Instead, the U.S. chief executive granted Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper a coveted media availability in the Oval Office, a privilege not granted to someone as lowly as Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown not so long ago.

They talked like neighbors (or neighbours). And for good reason. Although Harper is conservative (by Canadian standards), the two nations maintain by far the largest bilateral economic relationship in the world. You don't hear much talk about building a wall along the U.S.-Canadian border, at least on the U.S. side.

And Canada has been a staunch military ally since 9/11, with its troops actually fighting in Afghanistan, as opposed to maintaining bases like some NATO allies. In fact, on a per capita basis Canada has suffered more casualties there than U.S. troops.

While Canada's domestically controversial combat commitment there will wind down in the next two years, Obama is pondering another U.S. troop surge that polls warn could create some real trouble for him back home.

The U.S. is by far Canada's largest customer and Canada is by far the Americans' largest supplier of energy. You won't be surprised they had an "excellent conversation" about the "extraordinary friendship and bond" of the two peoples. Obama said they even talked about climate change, or global warming, which could eventually keep millions of Canadians from migrating to Florida and Arizona with the birds every winter.

Speaking in French because that's not his native tongue but he wants to get on the TV news back in Quebec, Harper reciprocated the bonhomie, said an economic recovery has begun, though still pretty fragile, praised the president's speech to Wall Street (its Canadian equivalent in Toronto is called Bay Street) and vowed to continue addressing the ever-present series of trade "irritants" that crop up between the two former British colonies.

Here's what they both told the media, as provided by la Maison Blanche.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Transcript of joint media event with President Obama and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Hello, everybody.  Prime Minister Harper and I have just had an excellent conversation, reiterating the extraordinary friendship and bond between the American and the Canadian people.  We discussed both our bilateral relationship on issues of energy, our borders, issues of trade, and how we can continue to strengthen the already excellent relations that we have.

We also have discussed a range of international issues. Obviously we've been partnering with Canada on improving the global economy.  We both agree that although we are not out of....

So you think you can speak?

President Obama's prime-time news conferences/speeches haven't quite had the same TV ratings as they once did, especially since having to compete with Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance."

Well, there's another one tonight -- this speech to a joint session of Congress at 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern, 1 a.m. Thursday GMT).

[Updated 1:03 p.m.: An earlier version of this post gave an incorrect time for the president’s speech.]

And wily Fox is again electing to air the dance show on the East Coast instead of Obama's healthcare reform talk. (In L.A., viewers will see "King of the Hill," a cartoon about a conservative family living in Texas.)

Fox News will carry Obama's speech to Congress along with the major networks, including NBC, ABC, CBS, and news channels MSNBC and CNN.

Obama is expected to try to regain control of the debate and tackle a variety of issues and criticisms of the program that have hindered its progress through the legislative bodies controlled by his own Democratic Party.

Many may wonder "what else is on?" You know we'll have complete coverage on The Ticket, including the transcript, for you to catch up on anytime.

So here are a few notable viewing alternatives:

"Cash Cab" (Discovery Channel) -- Worried about how you'll pay for health insurance? What if the next time you got into a taxi, you were given ...

With the recent steady drip-drip of discourse from the White House on police and racial profiling,  we hope the Obama clan also keeps some Guinness on tap.

Turns out that Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. may actually be related through Irish ancestry to the police officer who arrested him in his own house earlier this month, according to ABC News.  No, really!

President Obama, who initially said the Cambridge, Mass., police department "acted stupidly," then on second thought sort of recalibrated his comments, has pledged to host the two for a "beer summit" and, hopefully, a make-up at the White House on Thursday. (An earlier version of this post said the meeting would be held today.) 

One can only imagine how the proceedings will end, given that professor Gates,  who is half-Irish, says he can trace his ancestry to the Niall of the Nine Hostages, one of Ireland's most prolific warriors, to whom Sgt. James Crowley also attributes his family roots.

However boozy it may get -- maybe with a late-evening rendition of Molly Malone?  -- hopefully it won't set Obama back on the cigs. 

These kind of familiar relationships do tend to crop up in Washington: Obama is eighth cousin to former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Obama is also related to six other U.S. presidents through his mother, S. Ann Soetoro, and the former British prime minister, Winston Churchill.

Churchill's wartime ally, Franklin Roosevelt, was related to 11 presidents by blood or marriage, while the Bush family is distantly related to the British queen. Barbara Pierce Bush, the former first lady, is a great-great-great niece of the 14th president, Franklin Pierce. At least 16 other presidents were of Scot-Irish descent, including Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant and Woodrow Wilson.  

IrishCentral.com reports that up to 3 million Irish Americans may be descended from Niall, the Irish "High King" at Tara, the ancient center of Ireland from AD 379 to AD 405. He was said to have struck the fear o' death into the hearts of the English, the Scots, the French and even the Romans.

But we want to know just what the "birthers" will make of Obama's role in all of  this?

-- Craig Howie   

Meanwhile, even Irish can click here for Twitter alerts on each new Ticket item. Or follow us   @latimestot

Photos: Henry Louis Gates Jr., President Obama and James Crowley. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

(UPDATE: An updated paragraph appears below.)

Known privacy advocate and property rights conservative Barack Obama has walked into a simmering Boston-area racial incident with his surprising news conference comments about local police stupidity. And the waves washed outward further today, causing a distraction to his more important agenda, healthcare reform.

Lynn Sweet, a very savvy Chicago political reporter who knows Obama's sensitivities from his Illinois state Senate days when he worked on racial profiling issues, asked the president, seemingly strangely, about a recent disorderly conduct arrest in Cambridge, Mass. On the surface that issue would not seem to merit attention, as one of only 11 questions at a nationally televised White House news conference with the president of the United States.

However, as Sweet well knew, the arrestee was black. A respected academic. Also -- here's the key -- a friend of Obama's. The officer was white. It was July 16. Apparently a neighbor saw someone in a T-shirt breaking into a nearby home. It happened to be the owner himself, but who knew then?

The police arrive, wearing bulletproof vests, not without reason in modern America, especially on a  "crime in progress" call. They demand ID. It's produced. But then something got said.

Unlike roadside stops, we don't have dashboard video of the altercation. And the Fox "Cops" crew wasn't present either. Safe to say, however, it involved a perturbed, probably embarrassed, likely tired homeowner, who happened to be black, being confronted and handcuffed in his own house by a wary, probably suspicious, certainly stressed police officer, who happened to be white.

As even the most ignorant teenage driver has been instructed by non-Harvard-trained parents, when confronted by authorities packing badges and large guns, assume the obedient fetal position, oozing respect until things get straightened out calmly.

But this is America 2009, which may have elected a black president last November, but still harbors racial resentments and fears on both sides. As the president described -- and perhaps revealed.

As usual, The Ticket published a transcript of the entire presidential news conference. Here's the actual question, the last of the evening, from Sweet of the Sun-Times in Chicago, a city that knows a little about tough policing and racial problems:

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Recently, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge. What does that incident say to you and what does it say about race relations in America?

OBAMA: Well, I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts. What's been reported though is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his....