THE O OFFICE

Thank you for being instrumental to my election, sir.

The current tenant occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, #43, is now giving the future tenant, #44, a tour of the government-subsidized housing project.

That welcome must be incredibly awkward in light of these mirror image approval ratings:

I can only process what this meeting will be like if I imagine Billy Bob Thorton giving a tour of Angelina Jolie's house to Brad Pitt while Thorton acts like his mentally challenged character in Sling Blade.

Apparently, the two are to meet alone. I can't imagine what they will discuss.

Obama will want to talk about whether US intelligence confirms that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev chose to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states in order to mask the incursions Prime Minister Vladimir Putin secretly has planned for Georgia.

Bush will want to show Obama which button on the remote control for the ceiling fan makes the paddles spin the other way.

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Choice commentary from a TPM reader: "I can't believe Obama is already sitting down with an unpopular, aggressive world leader without preconditions."

--Junichi