Hold on sweetie, 57 states?

Barack Obama needs a speech coach.

First Obama's slips up about how many states he has traveled to during the campaign.

While in Oregon eariler this month, Obama was addressing the crowd and make this statement:

"It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

57 states? Okay...
Maybe he was channeling his inner John Kerry-Heinz 57 personality? And since when did Alaska and Hawaii become one state?

So I dug a bit. Wanted to find our newest states. After all, it's been a while since high school geography. This is what I assume is our 7 newest states:
51. Puerto Rico
52. Guam
53. Northern Mariana
54. American Samoa
55. St. Croix
56. St. Thomas
57. St. John

I guess we should've seen this coming when Obama was reported to be meeting unofficially with the Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands when he took his family on "vacation" to St. Thomas.

Since Obama has now started sporting a flag lapel pin, I wonder if it looks like this one?

You can buy one for yourself here.

It also now appears that Obama is getting more and more friendly with the media lately. Although I don't know how comfortable I am with the POTUS calling the press "petnames".

During a Michigan campaign stop, TV reporter Peggy Agar asked Obama at a campaign stop, “How are you going to help the American auto workers?”

Obama's reply: Obama told Agar to "hold on, sweetie," and said he would address that issue with her later. Agar said she never got an answer to her question.

Obama has personally apologized to Agar, leaving her a voice message (oh isn't that nice?), apologizing for both not answering the question and for calling her "sweetie."

"That's a bad habit of mine," Obama said in the message. "I do it sometimes with all kinds of people. I mean no disrespect and so I am duly chastened on that front."

I would be more comfortable with a potty mouth POTUS that one who techinically gets a "little too friendly" with a female member of the media...

Just a thought...