A good excuse?

From the Chicago Tribune:

One 10-year-old Wisconsin girl has a rock-solid excuse for missing the last day of school: a personal note to her teacher from President Barack Obama. John Corpus of Green Bay stood to ask Obama a question about health care during his town hall-style meeting at Southwest High School. He told Obama his daughter Kennedy missed school to attend the event and he hoped she didn't get in trouble.

"Do you need me to write a note?" Obama said. The crowd laughed, but the president was serious. On a piece of paper, he wrote: "To Kennedy's teacher: Please excuse Kennedy's absence. She's with me. Barack Obama." He stepped off the stage to hand-deliver the note -- to the girl's great surprise.

"I thought he was joking until he started walking down," Kennedy said after the event, showing off the note in front of a bank of television cameras. "It was like the best thing ever." The fourth-grader at Aldo Leopold elementary in Green Bay already knew exactly what she was going to do with the note: get it framed along with her ticket to Thursday's event. She said she'd make a copy to give to her teacher. Kennedy said Thursday was the first time she's seen Obama. "He's really nice," she said.