Gibbs Jokes Rahm Emanuel is Shoveling the Sidewalk at Obama's Chicago Home

During a brief moment of levity during an otherwise serious press briefing Friday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs got a small joke in about his former colleague, who spent part of this week helping Chicago dig out of a huge snowstorm.

Between questions about President Obama's approach to the political crisis in Egypt, Gibbs was asked if the president was, as the reporter's sources said, making personal calls to help former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's campaign for Chicago mayor.

Gibbs did not answer that question, but he took the opportunity to further a joke that had started in the press room earlier in the week.

"I think Rahm's still shoveling the president's sidewalk," Gibbs said Friday.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet asked who was checking on Mr. Obama's house in the Windy City after a storm dropped more than 20 inches of snow on Chicago. The massive storm prompted Emanuel to hit the streets and get that must-have photo op of helping dig out a car, CBS News station WBBM-TV reported. Gibbs suggested to Emanuel's press secretary that the candidate should stop by the president's home.

As for Mr. Obama, he hasn't been to his Chicago home since Halloween weekend. According to CBS Radio News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, Mr. Obama last spent the night at his house Oct. 30, 2010, after appearing at a Democratic campaign rally.