NPR: Obama's Fat Lip Gives Him "Street Cred"

Here's my theory: The goofball stepped on a rake in Michelle's organic garden.

If you have video or photographic evidence to the contrary, by all means lay it on me.

Just three weeks after getting a shellacking in the midterm elections, President Obama got a fat lip.

The president played basketball yesterday with some friends in the gym of the Fort McNair Army Base, and reportedly took an elbow in the mouth from an opposing player who went up for a shot.

It took 12 stitches to close The First Fat Lip, if you please. I'm not sure that Joe Frazier needed 12 stitches after the Thrilla in Manila, though the White House stressed that a smaller filament was used, which increases the number of stitches, but leaves a smaller scar.

I wonder if having a larger scar wouldn't actually fortify President Obama's profile, as he contends with Kim Jong Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Vladimir Putin. Imagine a president with a gnarly, vivid scar telling the rulers of China, "Nice country ya' got here. I'd hate to see something happen to it if you didn't stop foolin' around with the value of your currency. Know what I mean?"

As recent presidential injuries go, President Obama's is almost valiant. His immediate predecessor, President George W. Bush, famously choked on a pretzel. President Bill Clinton tore a tendon stumbling on the steps of Greg Norman's house after a round of golf.

But an elbow in the chops is a battle ribbon in basketball. Mediocre players don't have to worry about their dental work. An elbow is given to aggressive players who swing their own sharp limbs to grab a ball or push off a defender, although the White House stressed that the president was elbowed inadvertently.

Sounds like the NPR writer is getting Obama mixed up with Shaq.

Yeah, I'm definitely going with "stepped on a rake".

Final answer.

Cross-posted.