Well, one worrying thing about Obama. His new on the road spokeswoman, Linda Douglass, formerly of the nonpartisan National Journal magazine, brought hope to a lot of Obama supporters that she would be an experienced, sure-fire, safe pair of hands on the trail. She’d be able to bat away questions about any more pastor eruptions. She’d be able to neutralise the BS National Journal rating that places Obama as the most liberal member of the Senate. And she would make sure he didn’t commit any gaffes - much less commit one on his behalf - regarding trivia from The Godfather.

Time magazine uber-reporter/blogger Mark Halperin (a former colleauge of Douglass’) gets some facetime and a Q&A:

Q. What have you learned about Barack Obama that you didn’t know or fully appreciate before?

I have discovered that Senator Obama is a serious movie and TV buff. To test his knowledge of “The Godfather”, I asked him who betrayed Michael Corleone by setting up the meeting with Tattaglia: Clemenza or Tessio? He rolled his eyes and said, “Tessio, of course.” He added that Clemenza was played by Abe Vigoda, who, he pointed out, was also on the TV show Barney Miller, where he played Sergeant Fish.

Tessio: “Barzin wants a meeting. I can guarantee security.”

God, where to start? First of all, the meeting that Michael was invited to at the Don’s funeral was with Barzini, not Tattaglia. Tattaglia, as we’d discovered even before Vito gets shot, is just a pimp. And while it was Tessio who asked for the meeting, it was also Tessio who was played by Abe Vigoda and it was Vigoda who played Fish on Barney Miller. But Fat Clemenza did have a top-5 best line from the film, as he directed a subordinate to pick through the blood and brains in the front seat: “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”

So what’s happened here. My first, best option - that Halperin had a brain fart while typing up the Q&A with his old friend. He’s relaxed, it’s low impact. Second best - it’s Douglass, she simply misspoke, because she’s used to more sleep. And she’s got at least another 90 minutes to up her game. Worst case - it’s the candidate making crucial mistakes. It’s fine for McCain to not know the difference between Sunni and Shia, or to not know how many troops the US has in Iraq, or what year it is. But for a commander in chief to not know the key plot points of The Godfather, know them cold, know them as well as every argument in The Prince and every principle of The Art of War? It doesn’t bear thinking about.

So I’m going to blame the journalist here and hope I’m right. Otherwise, America is doomed. Doomed. DOOOMED.