WASHINGTON — Mr. President, look out for that mole!
Not the kind that steals state secrets and passes them to our enemies — but the furry kind that had the bad form to scurry across the steps right below President Obama’s feet yesterday as he addressed reporters in the Rose Garden.
The gray, short-tailed rodent made its debut before a bank of TV cameras and reporters awaiting Obama’s comments on Wall Street reform, suddenly scampering across the stone steps outside of theOval Office before ducking into some shrubs.
Then, before Obama declared that the economy is “getting stronger by the day,” it emerged again, although the president didn’t appear to notice.
The tiny critter would have to turn tail if it ever ran into the New York City variety of rat.
It had a stout body and a short tail, which may technically make it a vole, a close cousin of the blind mole and the mouse.
It certainly wasn’t an invited guest — although, to a White House sensitive to the topic, gate-crashing animals are far preferable to the human kind.