Is there a more pathetic C.E.O. than Jerry Yang?

After pursuing every possible alternative for Yahoo—other than a sale to Microsoft—he is now acknowledging that a deal with the software giant is probably the best option available.

Yang's comments are driving a surge in shares of Yahoo today. But hopes for a revived deal are certainly misplaced.

Yang spoke at the Web 2.0 Summit on Wednesday night just hours after Google had withdrawn from a search-ad partnership with Google.

As Kevin Maney reported on Portfolio.com last night, the conference's host, John Battelle, asked Yang why he didn't take Microsoft's first offer of $33 a share in February.

"A lot of us have replayed that over and over, including me," Yang said. "The idea of selling to Microsoft was something we'd talked about." Yang went on to say that buying Yahoo is actually "the best thing Microsoft could do."

The best thing. Of course, it was Microsoft's fault that a deal didn't happen: "They walked away from a public auction. We thought we were close."

Henry Blodget of Silicon Alley Insider says that the comments suggest that some sort of search deal with Microsoft is still on the table.

"But any search deal is likely to be worse than the one Yahoo passed on last summer, in which Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo's search technology for $1 billion, guarantee revenue for a decade, and buy $8 billion of Yahoo stock at $35 a share ($35 a share!)," Blodget says.

And Michael Arrington of TechCrunch beats the drum for regime change at Yahoo:

"What Yahoo needs is a new C.E.O. They need their Barack Obama—someone to make everyone believe that a true leader is at the helm, ready to fight. Someone with a believable plan. Someone who can inspire Yahoo, and Yahoo users, to believe that Yahoo can once again become a force on the internet."