Obama’s Olympic Fever

Even the president of the United States can't resist the drama and glory of the Olympic games. President Obama is closely following Team USA competing in London.

After American swimmer Michael Phelps made history Tuesday night by winning his 19th Olympic medal, President Obama sent him a congratulatory message on twitter. Signing with his initials "bo" which indicates the tweet was sent directly by the president, he wrote, "Congrats to Michael Phelps for breaking the all-time Olympic medal record. You've made your country proud."

Mr. Obama is also supporting the female athletes in the games. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Obama watched the US Women's gymnastics team win gold "with extreme admiration". On his Air Force One flight to Ohio Wednesday, the president called the members of the winning team, nicknamed "The Fab Five". Obama spoke to each of the young women, telling Aly Raisman (who anchored the American team on floor exercise, leading to their gold medal) "of all Olympians, you guys amaze us most."

Later at a campaign rally in Ohio, Obama still couldn't shake the amazement of the flying, flipping athletes. "These gymnastics folks, I don't understand how they do what they do," Obama said. "So I told these young ladies, as I was congratulating them, how do you not bust your head every time you're on that little balance beam? I couldn't walk across that balance beam."

Well Mr. President, you have at least a foot in height on these young women. Maybe you should stay off the beam and stick to basketball and golf.

The commander in chief echoed the spirit of the Olympic games, saying the competitions bring us together. "For all our differences, we are Americans first," he said. "We could not be prouder of them."

In a way, President Obama will cheer for one of his rivals tomorrow. The horse co-owned by Anne Romney, wife of his political opponent Mitt Romney, will compete in equestrian dressage Thursday. Governor Romney has said he won't watch his wife's horse compete in London. But the Obama campaign will. "We are rooting for the Romney horse in London," Obama campaign press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week.