Do me a favor.

If any of you out in Readerland are having lunch with the president this weekend, please ask him this very serious question on my behalf.

At almost the same time the President declared that "Israel has a right to defend itself," the President's Secretary of State said, "It is extremely important that Israel exercise her restraint in its activities of self-defense." How does the President believe that it is possible for Israel to be "restrained" in fighting a two-front war against terrorists?

If you're feeling gutsy, you can also ask him if the Secretary of State was speaking for the President when she contradicted him, or was she acting on her own, while the President, acting much like the Lebanese government, looked the other way, and mantained a degree of deniability while others he should have been able to control acted destructivly.

Oh, and don't let the President answer with his mouth full, and keep the kids away in case profanities start flying.