“Senator Reid’s office”

“This is Senator Obama, is Harry in?”

“This is WHO?”

“Barack Obama… Senator from Illinois”

“And you want to speak to WHO?”

“Harry”

“You mean SENATOR Reid?”

“Yes. Sorry”

“Just a moment”

“Hello?”

“This is Barack”

“Who?

“Barack Obama”

“Oh… OH… yeah.  How ya’ doing, Bart”

“Barack”

“Of course.  Bark.  What can I do for you?”

“Harry, do I need to do anything about all this Wall Street stuff?”

“That’s SENATOR Reid!”

“Sorry.  Senator Reid, do I need to come to Washington?”

“Why?  For what?”

“Well, I AM a U.S. Senator and John McCain is going to Washington to work on … that…. stuff”

“That’s SENATOR McCain. WHAT stuff?”

“That Wall Street stuff”

“No…. I can’t think of anything you can do here”

“Are you sure?  ‘Cause, if you need me there to negotiate with the Administration or offer some ideas for changing the Wall Street culture, or…..”

[Snickering] “No…… we’re good.  The adults can handle it”

“The what?”

“Huh?  OH… nothing”

“Well, this is the worst crisis since the Great Depression, so I just thought….”

[Interrupting]“Who told you THAT?”

“Well, you and Nancy did”

“That’s SPEAKER Pelosi.  We can handle the crisis.  Don’t worry.”

“Well, I’m thinking I should show some leadership and go the nation’s capital during this crisis.”

[LAUGHING] “No… you stay in …. wherever you are … and study for the debate” [Giggling]

“McCain says there won’t be a debate Friday”

“That’s SENATOR McCain.  Well… just keep rehearsing how to speak without a teleprompter.  We’ll let you know if we need anything”

“Well… about that.  I’m a little worried about the debate on foreign policy stuff.  McCa… SENATOR McCain is really, really good on it.”

“Now Brook, don’t worry.  We gave your people the questions we told  Jim Lehrer to ask, so, if you study, you should be OK.”

“Are you sure I can’t use a teleprompter.  Michelle says I do so much better when I use a teleprompter.”

“No.  Unfortunately, teleprompters aren’t allowed – and we don’t want to break any rules.  Just repeat the answers we gave you and keep saying “change” and “hope.  Listen, Burke, I gotta go.  We’ve got some grown up stuff we’ve got to do.  You take care, now.”

“Hello?  HELLO?  Harry?”