There’s a Photograph out on the AP wire that shows the President hand-writing a note to Condoleeza Rice saying something like “I may need a bathroom break sometime soon…will that be possible?”

My very first reaction was: “That’s funny, and humiliating for the President, who I dislike.”  I guess the little guy on the left shoulder doesn’t have enough work in his “in box” today, and got to work on this a little quicker than that guy on the other shoulder with the harp.

My next reaction was:  “How is this news?  How is this even remotely important?  It says nothing about the President’s incompetence, or his arrogance, or his disinterest in public policy, and how it’s created a climate of confusion in Washington…

…all it says it that the President’s bladder is working, and sometimes it lets him know that it needs to do important functions of it’s job right in the middle of important functions of his job.

Seriously…I’ve watched government proceedings on C-Span, and I sometimes lose count of how many times I have to pause my DVR and go to the loo.

Now, had he written something like “Screw national security, I’ve gotta go drain the snake…wanna watch?”  That would maybe be news.  Maybe.  If the offer were unwelcomed and Condi wanted to make a big deal about it.  On a slow day when there aren’t missing perky co-eds or pedophilia charges against Michael Jackson to cover…or here’s a wacky idea…public policy debates, or maybe some of the worlds leading thinkers speaking about the future of our country…

Hell, I’d take a puff piece about what it’s like to live as a coffee picker in Borneo over something that reveals to me nothing more than that the President occasionally needs to “make water”.

Further, what would be the better alternative?  To have the President distracted, crossing his legs and watching the clock, and not paying the least bit of attention to the discussion at hand?

I mean, Oh. My. God.  People.  This is the AP.  We’re doomed.