President Barack Obama's war against the insect world is alive and well. During a Thursday press event the POTUS was announcing that he was nominating former U.S. attorney Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a rather large house fly first buzzed around his head, then landed right in the middle of his forehead (video embedded).
The official White House transcript of the incident simply reads: "This guy is bothering me here -- (swatting at a fly.)"
Meanwhile, the pool report which describes the President's movements throughout the day noted that "the president spoke for about five minutes while being menaced by a house fly".
It's not the first time a fly has annoyed the POTUS. In his most famous previous incident with a fly, President Obama was in an interview with CNBC in 2009, when he was constantly interrupted by a fly, buzzing around his head. After first saying, "Hey! Get out of here."
The president eventually zeroed in on the fly, and after it landing on his hand, got it with a well-targeted smack, all on camera. He said, "Now, where were we? That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker."
Others in the room agreed, with several observers in the room giving Obama congratulatory shout-outs. However, the incident became the stuff of comics. Reporting on "The Daily Show," an amazed Jon Stewart said, "It's like he's got one of those fly Terminator targeting systems in his eyes."
Jimmy Fallon added, "That's some pretty impressive hand-eye coordination right there. Makes Obama look like a bad ass."
PETA was not impressed though. They sent him a humane Bug Catcher, and PETA spokesman Bruce Freidrich said, "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."
To PETA, that includes the common housefly.
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