Fievel Goes West Wing? Rodent Joins Obama at White House

AP

As President Obama lauded the progress of financial reform legislation yesterday from the White House Rose Garden, he received a little company.

Mr. Obama made an eight-minute statement yesterday to emphasize his commitment to financial reform. He was so focused, he didn't seem to notice the furry rodent that zoomed in front of the podium as he spoke.

The creature scurried from the bushes to the right of the president, just outside of the Oval Office, and dashed past Mr. Obama before ducking back into bushes at the left.

As photographers snapped pictures of the rodent, Mr. Obama stayed on message: "Over the last year, the financial industry has repeatedly tried to end this reform with hordes of lobbyists and millions of dollar in ads," he said. "Today, I think it's fair to say that these efforts have failed."

The president left the Rose Garden without taking any questions.

Rodents have been sighted at the White House before and are common in Washington. According to a wildlife biologist who talked to the Associated Press, this rodent was likely a vole.

"I would partially rule out rat," Russell Link told the AP. "That's due to the lack of a tail that is typically equal to body length."

Link, who works for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, added: "My suspicion is it's a vole, commonly called a 'meadow mouse' out our way."

Check out a video of the rodent below.

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[HemiHead66]

If the lobbyists didn't win, how come taxpayers have to foot the bill to break-up banks? You notice how all the Republican taxpayer bailout headlines went away? That's because the Democrats gave them what they wanted. A lot of that going around lately. Instead of a bank-funded fund to break-up banks (which the Repukes called a tax-payer bailout) now we're going to use taxpayer money to break-up banks (which isn't a tax-payer bailout.) Go Figure! And what good is raising mileage standards, they'll just jack up the price for oil and gas. The U.S. is in the middle of a depression and oil was pushing 90 bucks a barrel a few weeks back. God forbid the economy should recover, the speculators will drive the price of oil to 200 a barrel this time. Because you know Obama didn't do squat about those speculators. Pelosi tried to pass a bill back in 2008, but the Repukes banded together and killed it. (Where have we seen that before?) They'd rather push the lie that drilling for oil will lower gas prices. Even though it would take a few years to get the oil. By then you'll forget the fact that that oil isn't handed to us at some cheap price, it's put on the manipulating market with everything else. And even if we did have enough oil to effect the price (which we don't) they'd just cut back on out-put in the Middle East or elsewhere to raise it again. So you see, we're being played for fools.

[stormerF3]

Rats of a feather stick together.

[RoboBlogger]

Apparently, the Secret Service aren't getting paid enough if they didn't react to this. It could've been an r/c rat packed with play dough.

[jd2408]

It was just a member of Congress arriving late.

[MurdochSucks]

Elephants are scared of rodents, right? Would Bush have jumped up on the podium and screamed like a puss? Obama, being a donkey stood firm and steady, much like he is going to stand firm against WallStreet crooks.

[stormerF3]

He had to change his underwear and was afraid to more away from the Podium.

[independent_midwesterner]

Shows that the rats are really in Washington and in the White House!!

[tsigili]

Guess that's indicative of the kind of support that Obama gets.

[brianbwb2011]

The photo is of a rather healthy vole, which some people even keep as pets. Clearly not a rat, which would have a tail equal to body length, and which has longer legs, and a sharper nose.

Excellent burrowers, and opportunistic omnivores, they can destroy plant life, which they prefer, although they will readily scavenge dead animals.

Burrowing under the White house property can actually expose sensitive electronic equipment that, if not in place for security reasons, at least should be, so it would be a good idea for animal control to sweep the property, as one pregnant vole can become 50 within a year.

They are sometimes called "meadow mice" and are related to the lemming. This one, headed to the viewer's right, was likely trying to join the tea-klux bagger group.

[VBnews]

ur a jackass

[usconstitution1]

ECONOMIC STIMULUS - FDIC MAKING SURE ALL WAMU SHAREHOLDERS GET THEIR MONEY!! STOCK SWAP, etc? THAT?S CALLED A STIMULUS!! NOT LETTING THE RICH CEOS HAVE THE MONEY?WHILE THE REST OF THE ECONOMY/PEOPLE, etc?SUFFER!! I WILL NEVER BANK WITH CHASE UNLESS THERE IS A STOCK SWAP OR WAMU JUSTICE! A BANK OF THAT MAGNITUDE IS WORTH MORE THAN 1.6 BILLION ASK MY NEURO-SURGEON IF YOU NEED HELP!! MY BROTHERS FRIENDS ARE BILLIONAIRES!! 3.875 COLLEGE GPA, GRADUATE SCHOOL, etc? I JUST DIDN?T STUDY SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IN COLLEGE!! FDIC ECONOMIC STIMULUS ARE MAKING SURE ALL WAMU SHAREHOLDERS GET THEIR MONEY!! COLLEGE, RETIREMENTS, DOWN PAYMENT ON HOME, ITS PAYING OFF LENDERS, PAYING UNCLE SAM --THOSE TAXES, etc?

[brianbwb2011]

How about getting one of your billionaire friends to buy you a new keyboard that has an unstuck caps lock?

[dwilson59]

Now that is funny

[TVO1CITW]

Was the mouse a Democrat moving to the Right?