Rolling with all those burning big issues

The Easter Bunny's ear stands in for Obama's faulty microphone. Photo / AP

Forget the recession, two wars and Somali piracy, yesterday United States Barack Obama got down to the really serious business of gambolling with his family's new dog and hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll.

He shared top billing with Elmo from Sesame Street, Papa Smurf and Clifford the Big Red Dog, as children from across the US descended on the White House. And for a brief moment, the great orator was silenced by a faulty sound system, reduced to tapping the microphone and forced instead to make polite conversation with a giant Easter Bunny.

Fittingly, it was the children who saved the day, when Malia Obama stepped in to test the microphone and found it working again, prompting younger sister Sasha to shout "Go Malia". The event is "one of the greatest White House traditions", the President said, after finding his voice, "one that reminds us that this is the people's house ..." "Our goal today is just to have fun," his wife Michelle Obama added. The egg-rolling competition has been an annual fixture in the White House grounds since the 19th century.

Obama's 6-month-old puppy was to arrive officially today, although the Administration released a photo on Monday of the new pet romping with the President at the White House. The Obama girls have named the Portuguese water dog Bo. He is a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy, who owns several of the dogs himself, including one from Bo's litter.

- INDEPENDENT, AP