PORTLAND, Ore. -- With spare time on his hands while rehabbing his knee, Greg Oden has entered the political sphere.

Oden came out in support of Barack Obama on his blog, after a brief telephone conversation and some research on the Democratic presidential hopeful.

The Obama campaign, in turn, said Oden would work with the campaign to reach out to young voters in Ohio, where he played college basketball, Indiana, where he attended high school, and Oregon.

Just a few days after his endorsement of Obama, Oden introduced first lady Laura Bush at a Portland youth conference -- proving he's strictly bipartisan when it comes to kids.

The 7-foot center introduced Bush, towering above her when they shook hands. Bush spoke as part of the sixth regional Helping America's Youth conference.

 More: Oden meets Mrs. Bush

Oden talks to Barack Obama

"Today I am kinda nervous. Mrs. Laura Bush sees that there's a need for adults to help in young people's lives, and that helping young people become healthy and successful adults should be everyone's priority," Oden said.

Oden has found other ways to amuse himself after undergoing microfracture knee surgery before the season -- including getting a dog he named Charles Barkley McLovin', frequent blogging at Yardbarker.com and sporting a Mohawk haircut.

But Oden has kept up with his rehab, too.

"We still have six to seven months of hard work to do to get him ready for next season," Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard told OregonLive.com. "He's been working out with weights, doing pilates, doing pool work and doing a little bit of on-court work. That will continue to progress for the next few months."

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ROY ON THE MEND: The good news for the Blazers is that an MRI showed that Brandon Roy's ankle injury is just a sprain. The bad news is that without him, the Blazers struggled in Los Angeles against the Lakers and Clippers.

The Blazers did pull out an 82-80 win over the Clippers, but without the All-Star guard's steadying influence they blew big leads in both games.

Roy told reporters this week that the rest would do him good.

"Hopefully it works and I'll be able to come back as strong as possible," he said.

Travis Outlaw took Roy's spot in the Blazers' lineup but was just 3-of-13 from the field Wednesday. Jarrett Jack, who moved into the starting lineup when James Jones went down, was replaced by Martell Webster against the Clippers but led Portland with 21 off the bench.

Roy will be re-evaluated before Portland's Friday rematch with the Lakers at the Rose Garden.

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WAFER GETS A SHOT: The newest Blazer came up big in his first playing time with Portland.

Von Wafer, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard obtained from Denver for rookie Taurean Green, had 11 points and five rebounds in a career-high 32 minutes for the Blazers against the Clippers Wednesday.

"Without Von, we don't win this game," coach Nate McMillan said afterward.

Wafer, who has practiced just once with the team, was acquired partly to make up for the absence of 3-point specialist James Jones, who is out with a knee injury but could return soon.