Back to your desk, Mr. President

From today's San Francisco Chronicle:

Sacramento -- Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday he wants President Bush to delay a planned October fundraising visit to California because the governor fears it will siphon off donations he needs to help his Nov. 8 special election measures.

"In the next two months, it would be better if we just do the fundraising," Schwarzenegger said in an interview with The Chronicle. "Then let us go (past) our special election -- and then they can pick it up again, the (Republican) national committee."

Okay, now which is more aggravating? That President Bush can even CONTEMPLATE going out to raise money for the GOP right now? Or that Schwarzenegger's reason for not wanting the President to come is "donor fatigue," or more accurately that he, as a fairly unpopular governor, needs those donors himself to support his special ballot initiatives?

Both awful, but I give the nod to the guy presiding over a ballooning federal deficit, a costly and unnecessary war, and an incompetent response to an unprecedented natural disaster. Well done, Mr. President, well done.

I have to allow for the possibility, however small, that Schwarzenegger really wanted to say, "first off, Mr. President, for you to engage in politicking in the immediate aftermath of the embarrassingly inept federal response to Hurricane Katrina is unseemly. Second of all, I don't want to be seen with you-- I'm unpopular enough already." (You have to imagine Arnold saying that with an Austrian accent to get the full effect. Better yet, picture a hack comedian saying it in his best Ahnuld impression. There you go.)

That the President could even think about making partisan fundraising appearances right now is a little nauseating. I think you've got enough on your plate already, sir.