Tales from the Trail

President Barack Obama admits he has crossed the grey line.

In the well-worn tradition of those who entered the White House before him, the president’s hair has greyed. And it’s only his first year in office.

Perhaps not exactly the change he was hoping for.

“My hair has gotten a lot greyer because I was at the age where my hair was going to start getting grey. Having said all that, you know this has been an extraordinary year,” Obama said in an interview with NBC.

The economy, healthcare, Afghanistan war are all on his mind — “I would be lying if I said that those aren’t weighted questions that I carry around on my shoulders every day.”

As for questions about whether he is losing weight under the stress of the office, Obama says his weight is about the same.

“My weight fluctuates about five pounds – it has for the last 30 years, it’s unchanging, I still wear the same stuff when I got married 17 years ago,” the president told NBC.

(Perhaps it may be time to update the wardrobe?)

But after the initial splash of Obama’s round of TV interviews, the president still couldn’t command the obvious excitement on some of the morning TV shows that Sarah Palin’s book tour was about to begin.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell was out near Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she talked about how some people had camped OVERNIGHT so they could get a wrist band so they could meet Palin.

ABC showed more of Barbara Walters interview with Palin.

And Hillary Clinton has landed in Afghanistan. It’s her first visit to the country as Secretary of State.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama in Shanghai this week), Reuters/Mike Segar (Obama when presidential candidate with former President Bill Clinton in September 2008)