WASHINGTON — Home alone while his family is on a tropical Hawaiian vacation, President Obama took his dog Bo on a last-minute Christmas shopping spree yesterday.
Obama dashed off to a suburban Virginia shopping mall, first stopping in at a PetSmart store, where the president and first dog were escorted through an aisle of pooch toys and treats.
But Bo’s attention was soon captured by a poodle named Cinnamon as the president paid the $41 tab for a pair of items, including a large dog bone, with a $50 bill.
“OK, Bo, don’t get too personal here,” he told Bo as he tightened his grip on the leash.
Then Obama hit a Best Buy, where he scooped up the latest high-tech toys for daughters Sasha and Malia.
He bought a copy of the Just Dance 3 game, the latest craze for game systems like Wii and Xbox — although Obama’s digital dancing skills apparently aren’t much better than the moves he once displayed on TV.
“The girls beat me every time on these dance games, but you’ll never get a picture of me [playing], because I get graded ‘F’ every time,” Obama said.
The prez also picked up some $50 iTunes gift cards, then bought a few boxes of pizza and headed back to the White House, where a standoff over the expiring payroll-tax cut has been spoiling his own planned holiday getaway.
White House spokesman Jay Carney has yet to say if the president will eventually join his family in Hawaii, even for a short respite.