Chewing the fat and, ideally, the fat-free snacks

According to the New York Times, President Bush has recently been having a series of "informal chats" with reporters from the major news organizations at the White House.

CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Bohrman said he thought the sessions were beneficial all around, and was paraphrased as saying, "Mr. Bush does better in such informal sessions than in formal presentations."

Now, I could be mistaken, but conventional wisdom would hold that functioning comfortably in formal situations is a rather vital part of the presidential job description. But of course, delicate creature and man of the people that he is, Bush prefers less structured chats, which, oh, by the way, just happen to be off-the-record.

That's like inviting an infectious disease specialist over to check out your raging case of exotic and virulent South Dakotan Hemorrhagic Weasel Fever, but then saying he or she can't treat you, research you or tell anyone else about you.

Is this the new strategy to win back enough reported public approval to make the president appear a legitimate democratic leader? If so it is somewhat comforting to know Bush is doing something besides accepting resignations from staff officials most Americans have never heard of, but still.

As delightful as I'm sure it is to kick back and sip an iced tea with the most powerful dullard on the planet, in such a situation, the president isn't obligated to answer any substantive questions, but can still claim that he gives reporters access and is Mr. Press Congeniality, therefore giving him leeway to shrug off those substantive questions in on-the-record, formal situations, and thereby obfuscate everything.

Which reminds me, for as much as Bush likes to spout about how history will judge his presidency rather than the public opinion of the moment, this weekend I saw a children's book on a Barnes & Noble clearance rack about the American presidents, through W.'s first term.

The cover presented four photos in a row: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush. It was like that "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong" game from "Sesame Street" come to life.

And the first thing listed inside the book under interesting facts about Dubya? That he once choked on a pretzel.