Rumor has it that President Obama is going on a bus tour and will stop by here next week.

The White House said the president will travel Aug. 22-23 on a two-day bus tour through New York and Pennsylvania. The trip may include visits to Binghamton, Syracuse and Buffalo, as well as Scranton, Pa., but the White House would not confirm reports of the planned stops.

I just hope the bus driver isn’t using a map provided by MSNBC:

obama_bus_tour

I hadn’t realized we were so close to Buffalo and Binghamton (or that we were all in Eastern New York; I gotta figure out why it takes so long to get to the Berkshires). Scranton look a bit farther west than I remember it, too.

Assuming they can figure out where we actually are (they might want to get the NSA on that), it would of course be pretty big news around here. We don’t get a lot of presidents dropping by (except when Bill and Hillary and Chelsea spent a week on vacation up here, and of course when they used to come to the NY State Fair which was part of Hillary’s official duties as Senator, and Bill was of course still into the fried food back then).

Speaking of the state fair, that’s what they really ought to come up here for (and it does start on August 22nd, which is also Governor’s Day, and you just know Obama loves him some Andy Cuomo). I can just picture Michelle sticking her face into a big old plate of pulled pork from Dinosaur Barbecue and chomping down on a sausage sandwich with a side of salt potatoes.

“Eat healthy, kids!”

And, hey, can’t miss the butter sculpture (still a secret as to what it’ll be this year, but you know I’ll clue you in when I find out).

Oh well, another late day for me today. I sure do hate working ’til five.