In a striking breach of protocol, President Obama today abandoned the press, and his whereabouts were unknown for a some period of time.

According to the pool report, Obama left the Andrews Air Force Base golf course without the press vans that accompany him everywhere. The vans proceeded back to the White House on their own.

From the pool report:

The pool does not know first hand when the president left the base, what route he took, or when he arrived at the White House. We were told that he arrived at 5:58 pm and went to the residence.

The White House told the press pool that the president had left at about ten minutes before the pool, which departed at 5:45 pm. The pool arrived back at the White House at 6:13 pm.

Sometimes the vans must play catchup to the president if he gets in his car ahead of them, but the pooler reported that the vans in this case had been waiting for half an hour.

The White House has offered no explanation as of yet.

President Obama is doing Memorial Day right this year, with an appropriate schedule that may even keep him too busy for fun and games.

You may remember that last year Obama draped a wreath over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then promptly went golfing.

The year before there was this:

But this year, the president will start the day with a breakfast for “Gold Star” families who have lost a loved one in battle. He then will travel to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where he will deliver remarks. And in the early afternoon, he will be at the Vietnam Memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Vietnam War.

Michelle will be with him at every stop.

And that is how the president and the first lady should spend Memorial Day.

There was no question he was going golfing this weekend. The only unknown is whether he’ll golf again tomorrow.

He’s at his usual place, the Andrews Air Force Base course with one of his usual companions, White House trip director Marvin Nicholson. Also along are Marvin’s brother Walter and Pete Selfridge of the White House advance office.

This is the 98th time Obama has been golfing as president and the sixth time this year.

Michelle Obama is expected to be in Atlantic City Saturday night to take in a show by Beyonce at the lavish new Revel Casino, according to a report by NBC’s Atlantic City affiliate, News Channel 40.

It’s unclear whether Michelle has already jetted out and is making a mini-vacation of it or if she is just heading over for the show. Mrs. Obama is scheduled to be in Washington Monday for Memorial Day events and then to jet back out to New York City Tuesday for a two-day swing promoting her new gardening book.

The AC trip, as far as I have seen, has not been announced by the White House. There’s no word on whether she has her daughters in tow.

Michelle is almost certainly paying for her ticket. And taxpayers are almost certainly paying for her transportation.

The first lady is a huge fan of Beyonce’s, going so far as to tell People magazine that if she could be someone else, she’d be Beyonce.

Beyonce is performing four concerts at the Revel, a kind of comeback event for her after giving birth several months back.

George W. Bush and Laura Bush will be at the White House Thursday for the official unveiling of their portraits.

President Obama, as you well know, has blamed Bush for every problem he has encountered, suggested he presided over eight years of waste in which he sought to help out his rich buddies, and that he waged war either unnecessarily or poorly.

Bush has said nothing in return. Can you imagine what restraint it took Bush not respond to the constant defamation? I think what has allowed him to maintain such grace is his respect for the presidency. He just doesn’t think it should be a pissing match.

I once remarked to a Bush aide that I had read that Ronald Reagan never took his jacket off in the Oval Office. The aide looked at me quizzically and said, “Neither does Bush.”

Bill Clinton, of course, removed more than his jacket. Obama as far as we know has kept his pants on, but has no problem taking his jacket off, dropping by in a polo shirt, and putting his feet up on whatever furniture is handy, historic or not.

I wonder if Obama will say any of the things he says to Bush’s face. I guess not. And Bush will of course pretend it never happened.

He’s not getting dumped. Here are the top ten reasons why:

1. The White House is concerned he will go out, get a real job, and potentially do serious damage.

2. Last time Obama mentioned him getting off the ticket, Biden took off all his clothes and locked himself in the Blue Room.

3. The news would make Biden’s combover stand up on end.

4. Michelle thinks he’s a perfect fit for her vegetable garden.

5. While not a genius himself, he makes Obama feel like a genius.

6. He vowed to chain himself to the colonnade and “never leave.”

7. Obama realizes that with Biden as vice president, the Republicans will never impeach him.

8. Sasha and Malia have started calling him “grandpa.”

9. He has promised during the vice presidential debate to simply keep repeating, “My name is Joe Biden and I hope you are having a nice day.”

10. He’s the first mainstream Caucasian-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.

Updated May 25 9:55 am ET

Michelle Obama is set to do a New York City media junket Tuesday and Wednesday for her new book, “American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America.”

The book will be released Tuesday, when she will be interviewed on Good Morning America, The View, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. On Wednesday she will appear on LIVE! with Kelly.

Cooking show host Rachel Ray also snagged an interview with Michelle, traveling to the White House where she videotaped a cooking session with the first lady and a look at the White House garden.

According to the description on Amazon, if you read the book, you will “learn about her struggles and her joys” with “lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb” while getting “an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden’s growth, with striking original photographs that bring its story to life.” She’ll include recipes and share “the stories of other gardens that have moved and inspired her.”

She’s not making any money off it – proceeds go to charity. But publicity goes to her.

The book is related to her “Let’s Move” program to improve kids’ diets.

Here’s Michelle promoting American Grown herself.

Michelle probably does enjoy gardening, but she’s also said to eat lots of pizza.

In a sign of the vitriol with which he intends to wage this year’s campaign, President Obama Thursday evening likened statements by Mitt Romney to cow dung.

Here’s what he said during a fundraiser at the Iowa State fairgrounds in Des Moines, as recounted by the White House transcript:

Now, I know Governor Romney came to Des Moines last week; warned about a “prairie fire of debt.”  That’s what he said.  (Laughter.)  But he left out some facts.  His speech was more like a cow pie of distortion.  (Laughter.)  I don’t know whose record he twisted the most — mine or his.  (Laughter.)

Cow pies, for those of you raised in urban settings, is farm talk for excrement.

Obama also continued his bitter attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital. While he was careful to say that private equity firms like Bain are acceptable, his jab at Romney suggested he thinks otherwise.

Now, the main goal of a financial firm like Governor Romney’s is not to create jobs.  And by the way, the people who work at these firms will tell you that’s not their goal.  Their main goal is to create wealth for themselves and their investors. (Applause.)

As noted in a piece today by the New York Times, Obama’s slashing style could backfire by diminishing him as president. Previous presidents running for reelection – including Bill Clinton – waited until much later in the campaign even to begin referring to their opponent by name

But Obama is just picking up where he left off in the Midterms elections.

During the lead up to Election Day 2010, Obama called on Latinos to “punish” their “enemies” at the polls, singled out businesses and the Chamber of Commerce for attack, and charged Republicans wanted to hand Washington back to special interests, destroy the planet’s environment, and had a plan to keep the economy in lousy shape so they could win votes. He even said Republicans don’t want African Americans to vote.

The dung metaphor may be a new low. But it’s not inconsistent with what we’ve seen from a president who presented himself in 2008 as above politics but who appears instead to be perfectly comfortable in the political gutter.

“Chancellor Merkel is telling the other European countries they need to stop spending money they don’t have. Frankly, it’s a radical idea, and I’m appalled.”

- Barack Obama

A note from our attorneys: This is not a real quote

11:00 am || Receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

All times Eastern

. . . wouldn’t mind sleeping in myself.

Mitt Romney tried to reach out to African Americans in West Philadelphia, but the Obama campaign helped see to it that he got an angry reception, according to the Washington Post.

Outside, meanwhile, some brick row houses across from the school were boarded up. Police had cordoned off a full city block to protect Romney and his entourage. Residents, some of them organized by Obama’s campaign, stood on their porches and gathered at a sidewalk corner to shout angrily at Romney. Some held signs saying, “We are the 99%.” One man’s placard trumpeted an often-referenced Romney gaffe: “I am not concerned about the very poor.”

It would seem to me to go down in the dirty tricks category to be organizing hecklers at your opponents appearances, particularly, in this case, at one of the most dangerous spots in the city, according to Politico.

Obama is counting on strong turnout from the black community, some of which was angered by his stand in favor of gay marriages, so any effort by Romney to make inroads there is seen as a threat.

No, this is not one of my satirical pieces.

President Obama at a Denver fundraiser last night suggested he’s been spending his life in “the real world” while Romney has not. Here’s a look at what he said:

There was a woman in Iowa who shared her story of financial struggles, and he gave her an answer right out of an economic textbook. He said, “Our productivity equals our income.” And the notion was that somehow the reason people can’t pay their bills is because they’re not working hard enough. If they got more productive, suddenly their incomes would go up. Well, those of us who’ve spent time in the real world — (laughter) — know that the problem isn’t that the American people aren’t productive enough — you’ve been working harder than ever.

The point, I gather, is that rich people don’t live in the real world.

As far as I’m aware, Romney earned the vast majority of his money by busting his butt in school and sacrificing time with his loved ones by working incessantly ever afterward.

In his role at Bain Capital as someone trying to revamp companies so that they would be profitable, he dealt with every aspect of the real world, including workers, their salaries, businesses, customers, and so forth. What’s more, as an executive, his job was to run an enterprise and grapple with the joys and difficulties of managing his own employes.

Let’s look at Obama’s journey through the real world. He’s celebrated as a community organizers. But actually, HE ONLY DID THAT FOR THREE YEARS. Here’s his background:

1961-1983: Childhood and school

1983-1985: Real world participation, working for a year at the Business International Corporation, then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

1985-1988: Real world participation, working as a Community organizer

1988-1991: Harvard Law School

1991-2004: Writing and teaching at the University of Chicago Law School. During this time he also had four years real world participation as a full time lawyer, though he handled relatively few cases, according to the Los Angeles Times.

1997-2004: State Senator

2005-2008: U.S. Senator

2009-present: President of the United States

So I’m counting about nine years of real world particpation during 30 years of adulthood.

Romney began his business career in 1976, and didn’t really part from it until he ran for governor in 2002. So that would make about 26 years in the real world for Romney. And during his time in the real world he also ran the 2002 Olympics and devoted a great amount of time to leadership positions in his church.

Obama spent far less time in the real world. His assertion makes one wonder – what world is he actually living in?

And yes, BTW, many people can’t pay their bills because they either are not working hard enough or they are spending too much. Not because The Man is oppressing them. That’s the real world.

Bill Clinton just sent Obama supporters an email saying that he has joined President Obama as first prize in the latest campaign fundraising raffle.

Here’s a portion of the note:

Pitch in what you can today to strengthen the campaign — and you’ll be automatically entered to join me and President Obama in New York City, with the campaign covering airfare and accommodations.

If our opponent succeeds, so much of what we’ve fought so hard for will be rolled back. Health care reform — which many presidents, including me, tried to pass and couldn’t — will be gone. Same goes for the opportunity for millions more Americans to afford to go to college, and a growing economy that works for middle-class families.

Was there a time when presidents didn’t raffle themselves off? Will the winner be able to throw a tennis ball at a target and dunk the two of them in a vat of water?

I think second prize is a blender, but I’m checking on this.

President Obama failed to appear on cue last night at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, California, a weird lapse for a president who may have been exhausted at the end of a marathon day of speechifying and campaigning.

Pool reporter Peter Baker of the New York Times offers a descriptive take on the scene at the late night fundraiser:

Your pool was brought into the Fox Theater, where the audience was being shown the campaign’s 17-minute promotional film. The movie ended with stirring tones, the lights came up and then … nothing. The stage stood empty for long minutes and no one came out, much less Potus. The crowd grew antsy and began chanting, “Obama, Obama!” Finally a woman took it upon herself to keep the audience busy, shouting, “Fired up,” followed by the crowd responding, “Ready to go.” After a few minutes, that died down. Then a man started chanting, “Four more years,” until that died down too. More minutes drained away with no one on the stage, no one addressing the crowd.

Finally when Potus was announced and entered the stage at 9:45 p.m. local (12:45 a.m. DC time), the crowd jumped to its feet enthusiastically. Potus responded to its energy. “It is good to be back in California,” he said. He then launched into roughly the same speech as in Denver.

At a fundraiser earlier in the day in Denver, Baker reported that “the room at times felt a little flat and Potus seemed a little tired.” What’s more, the crowd at the Denver event was smaller than the Obama campaign planned on, totaling only 550 compared to the 700 who were expected to attend.

Obama’s slog began at around 7:00 am when he departed the White House for Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he gave the commencement address at the United States Air Force Academy. He then staged three fundraisers, culminating in the final one in Redwood city, which ended for him at 10:17 PM  local time, but 1:17 am Obama Time – that is, Eastern Daylight Time.

“Romney was actually in business to make money. What a slimeball.”

- Barack Obama

A note from our attorneys: This is not a real quote

8:30 am PT || Attends a fundraiser; The Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California
3:00 pm PT || Arrives Des Moines
3:55 pm CT || Tours TPI Composites, a wind manufacturer; Newton, Iowa
4:15 pm CT || Delivers remarks on urging Congress to act on the “To Do List,” focusing on green energy
6:55 pm CT || Speaks at a fundraiser; Paul R. Knapp Animal Learning Center, Des Moines
8:20 pm CT || Departs Des Moines
11:45 pm ET || Arrives at the White House

I want President Obama, his entire campaign, and everybody who works in the White House to be given IQ tests, NOW. Because the rationale for their attacks on Mitt Romney’s tenure at the private equity firm Bain Capital is so dumb, that I’m concerned that the country is being run by people with substandard IQ’s.

Dumb is even worse than evil. When you go to the movies, you kind of admire the crafty evil guy. And the crafty evil chick is sexy. But no one roots for dumb characters, good or bad.

An evil president would at least understand our enemies.

Obama Monday offered up the remarkable claim, since parroted by his parrots, that Romney was a poor match for the presidency because he sought to “maximize profits” at Bain. Obama said:

Now, I think my view of private equity is that it is set up to maximize profits. And that’s a healthy part of the free market.  That’s part of the role of a lot of business people. That’s not unique to private equity.

Part of the role of a lot of business people? Maximizing profits IS THE ROLE OF ALL BUSINESS PEOPLE. You find me a business person who is not “set up to maximize profits” and I’ll show you a business person who is headed out of business.

They may contribute to charity, be loyal to their employees, and do other nice things. But they are ALL TRYING TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS.

Please, show me Obama’s college transcript. If he took a single economics course, I’ll eat my computer. All of it.

I think a president’s job is to know the first and maybe the second thing about capitalism. If he doesn’t, perhaps that’s why growth is stuck at 2 percent. Maximizing profits, Mr. President, created this country.

So Obama really thinks, whether he knows it or not, that all business people – not just Romney – lack qualifications to be president.

Romney leading a discussion among Bain executives about how to maximize profits

And what exactly is this activity Obama and his people are talking about – “maximizing profits?” It doesn’t exist. It’s really just a side effect of other things that are activities.

Have you ever asked someone, “What are you doing today,” and they said, “Quiet, I’m maximizing profits.” There is no such thing.

Romney’s claim is not that he maximized profits, but that he did things that helped investors maximize profits, turning failing enterprises around by creating efficiencies, limiting wasteful spending, while himself acting as an executive. He argues that he understands how business and the economy work.

These, um, sound like relevant experience for a president that will have to deal with $1 trillion annual deficits, pitifully slow growth, and high unemployment. I’d say any enterprise like the U.S. government that has run up more than $15 trillion in debt and is getting its credit rating downgraded could use some private equity assistance.

Let’s be clear about what’s going on here. The White House is attacking rich people and business people, saying Romney is one of them, and hoping everyone will hate such people as much as Obama does.

My bet is voters are going to hear Romney maximized profits and think maybe he knows a thing or two about what to do with the economy.

That they’ll see through the dim-witted ruse that someone who maximized profits is not really qualified to be president.

The state of Hawaii provided verification of President Obama’s birth to Arizona State Attorney General Ken Bennett, who had threatened to keep Obama’s name off the ballot unless Hawaii provided the information.

Bennett, who is running for governor and was accused of stirring the controversy to curry support among birthers in the state, told the Arizona Republic the information satisfied his demand and the issue is now closed.

“I’m happy that we got what we asked for and that’s what I was expecting all along,” Bennett said Tuesday night.

Bennett last week told an Arizona radio station that he had been waiting eight weeks for the proof.