A B&B At The White House?

(CBS)  The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.

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I've never been good with numbers but for some reason, I'm always counting things. If I climb a flight of stairs, I count them for no good reason at all.

Here's a really interesting number though. According to official records, President George W. Bush has spent more time away from the White House than any President in recent history. In the past six months he has spent 25 percent of his time at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Since June of this year, the president has traveled to Kentucky, Denmark, Scotland, Louisiana, Florida, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, of all places.

I don't know why President Bush leaves the White House so often. It's nicer than what most of us have to live in.

There are 132 rooms and they're always fixing it up.

The White House has 16 bedrooms, each one different from the other.

There are three kitchens in The White House and four dining rooms. If you lived here you wouldn't have to clean up after lunch, just use a different dining room for dinner.

If you have to go to the bathroom in The White House, you don't have to go far because there are 34 bathrooms. The White House even has a bowling alley and a movie theater.

Our budget deficit now is $400 billion. Why don't we pay off some of that debt when President Bush is away by turning The White House into a bed and breakfast?

People would pay plenty to sleep where Abraham Lincoln slept.

I can't really blame President Bush for going away so often. Being president is a terrible job. If I was president I'd leave town too. I think President Bush is doing the best he can, too, even though people like me are always criticizing him.

I don't know how the president can travel so much though. If I slept in a different bed every night, I'd get disoriented. I'd forget where I put my watch or where I hung my pants. I wouldn't know whether to call Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove or Dick Cheney.

People are divided on their attitude toward President Bush.

Some people think he's doing a good job. Other people think he should stick to his job in The White House. Then there's a third group of mean-spirited Americans who don't think President Bush leaves The White House often enough.

By Andy Rooney