Oh, would that it be true.
Just ask the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Number 44 reportedly told aides during the first week after last month's oil explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, "plug the damn hole."
Pres. Obama, and the rest of us, now know that it apparently isn't that easy. Maybe it should have been, if BP had been prepared for some kind of disaster. But it wasn't.
Tomorrow, BP will try again to top the leak off. There is much brouhaha about whether the giant oil company will allow the effort to be "broadcast" live. Two days after this attempt, President Obama makes his second trip to the Gulf.
Meanwhile, the bloggers are having a field day with what has become the butt of all corporate jokes. One offers this about BP: "Think about it this way: The ocean is like root bear, and oil is like ice cream. We just made America a giant root beer float!"
It would be funny if it weren't so painfully real.
We'll have the latest on the spill and the clean up efforts, tonight at 11.
And for those hoping to get the Super Bowl to New York - oh, wait, make that New Jersey - you got your wish today. The Super Bowl 2014 will be played at the Meadowlands.
The Super Bowl in a cold-weather venue? After years of sunbelt or domed stadium contests, the NFL owners gave a tip-o-the-cap to the New York/New Jersey area. Some of this is post 9-11 sympathy.
And the weather? Meteorologist Lee Goldberg points out that the average high in the first week of February in these parts is 39 degrees, the average low is 25. The average snowfall for that week is 2.1 inches, or about 0.3 inches a day.
However, in February of this year, there was measurable snowfall in five of the first 10 days, helping this past February become the snowiest ever with 36.9 inches.
Maybe the economic benefits (half a billion dollars, or at least that's what boosters claim) outweigh the logistical problems for peeps who live here, I don't know. But right now, for many, the logistics seem overwhelming of a Super Bowl here. We'll take a look at the impact, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, we're following the political fallout from the Arizona immigration law. A preliminary Dept. of Justice review has shown that the law is unconstitutional. Now we'll see how the feds intend to handle it.
Many big-city police chiefs are against the controversial law, that requires Arizona law enforcement to question the citizenship of anyone "suspicious," and demand their papers.
A cross-section of chiefs will join a group of chiefs from Arizona for a meeting tomorrow with Attorney General Holder. The top cops are worried about the legislation, and how it affects, negatively, their relationship with the community.
And on the eve of that meeting comes word that the White House will ask for $500 million for extra border protection, and the President wants to deploy up to an additional 1,200 National Guard troops to the border.
That prompted an immediate reaction from the man Mr. Obama beat handily for the Presidency. "It's simply not enough," said Sen. John McCain of Arizona. "We need 6,000."
We also have a fascinating look tonight at the latest scare-the-pants-off-ya technology that, supposedly, can steal some credit card information from your wallet - at a distance. Not every credit card is susceptible, but those that are - well, you know. Darla Miles has our story, at 11.
Finally, a note about former President George W. Bush's upcoming book, called "Decision Points." We'll leave it to others to judge the accuracy of Mr. Bush's memoirs. But one excerpt caught our fancy about the change of lifestyle once one leaves the White House.
He joked about how his domestic agenda now means taking out the trash and doing the dishes. And he ruminated about post-Presidential life, citing his walks of the family dog, Barney.
"There I was," Mr. Bush said. "Former President, with a plastic bag in my hand, picking up what I had been dodging for eight solid years."
Interesting that he thinks he dodged it.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.
BILL RITTER
