A visit to see the president of the United States is probably the best excuse in the world to skip school, especially if he then personally writes your teacher a note.
President Barack Obama, who has two girls, swiftly sought to help a fellow dad out of a dilemma when he discovered John Corpus had brought his daughter to see him at a public meeting in Wisconsin, instead of taking her to school.
“I am fortunate enough to be here with my 10-year-old daughter, who is missing her last day of school for this. I hope she doesn’t get in trouble,” Corpus told the president.
“Oh, no,” replied Obama, all ears.
“Yes,” came the reply.
“Do you need me to write a note?” asked the president.
“I’ll take you up on that, actually, Mr. President.”
“All right. Go ahead. I’ll start writing it now,” replied Obama. “What’s her name?”
“John Corpus,” replied the startled father. “No, her,” Obama corrected him.
Corpus then tried to pose his question at the town hall meeting in Green Bay, when Obama interrupted him, saying “No, no, I’m serious. What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Her name is Kennedy,” the bemused Corpus said. “Kennedy. All right. That’s a cool name,” replied Obama.
A few minutes later Kennedy made her way through the crowd to receive her note from Obama written as the president was listening to her father’s question about healthcare reform.(AFP)
拜見美國總統可能是世上最好的蹺課藉口，尤其如果總統還親自幫你寫假條給老師。
自己有兩位千金的總統巴拉克•歐巴馬一知道約翰•柯普斯為了帶女兒到威斯康辛州的鎮民大會一睹其風采，竟選擇讓她蹺課後，當下決定幫助這位陷入兩難的父親。
柯普斯告訴歐巴馬：「能和十歲的女兒來這裡，我感到很幸運。她為了來這裡，沒去上這學期最後一天課，我希望她不會因此惹上麻煩。」
凝神傾聽的歐巴馬說：「不會吧？」
柯普斯回答：「是真的。」
歐巴馬問：「你需要我幫你寫假條嗎？」
「總統先生，我想我會接受你的提議。」
歐巴馬說：「好，我現在就寫。她叫什麼名字？」
這位嚇了一跳的父親回答：「約翰•柯普斯。」歐巴馬糾正他說：「不是你的名字，是她的名字。」
柯普斯之後便試圖在綠灣舉行的這場鎮民大會上提問。歐巴馬打斷他說：「我是說真的。你女兒叫什麼名字？」
困惑的柯普斯說：「她叫甘迺迪。」歐巴馬回答：「甘迺迪。好。很好的名字。」
幾分鐘後，甘迺迪穿越人群去領取歐巴馬幫她寫的假條，而歐巴馬則正在傾聽她父親所提出的健保改革相關問題。
（法新社�翻譯：林倩如）
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