IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT...:

On a tough day, Obama escapes for a while (BEN FELLER, 2/03/09, Associated Press)

On the rockiest day of his young administration, President Barack Obama did what surely made him happy for a while.

He left.

With little notice, the president and first lady Michelle Obama bolted the gated compound of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in their tank of a limousine on Tuesday. They ended up at a Washington public school, greeted by children who could not care less about the collapse of a Cabinet secretary nomination.

"We were just tired of being in the White House," the president candidly told the gleeful second-graders at Capital City Public Charter School.

While it would be good for the country and the officeholders if presidents got out more and had far less security, you kind of can't make it look like the job is too much for you after three weeks.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 3, 2009 11:07 PM