Seems like somebody's been reading Newsweek--or at least taking a long, hard look at our latest cover.

Tasked with choosing a shot to sum up "Obama's Bubba Gap"--a story about the candidate's struggle to overcome the impression that he's out of touch with ordinary Americans--my bosses settled on a pair of iconic images: a mug of beer and a stalk of arugula. (In July, Obama asked Iowa farmers if they'd "gone into Whole Foods lately and see[n] what they charge for arugula?"; fairly or unfairly, the peppery, leafy green has served as a symbol of his supposed "elitism" ever since.)

Turns out the cover also sums up Obama's dilemma in the final stretch before Indiana's May 6 primary. For the past few days, the senator has relied on something of an "arugula" argument to reinvigorate his creaky campaign: that the gas-tax "holiday" proposed by John McCain and seconded by Hillary Clinton "isn't a real solution" so much as "a gimmick"-- a way for politicians to "pretend that they’re solving [a big problem] to try to get though a political season." The point, of course, is to prove that he's above pandering. But while Obama (as we've written ad nauseam) is inarguably right on the details--every economist on the planet says the Clinton-McCain scheme would actually raise prices at the pump, and cause a host of other problems to boot--it seems that blue-collar Indianans aren't really absorbing his plea. Polls show Clinton opening a six-point average lead in the Hoosier State, up from two earlier this week, and at a retirement community in Columbia City, Ind. yesterday, an older voter chided Obama for opposing Clinton's proposal, claiming (erroneously) that it would offer short-term relief. "A lot of us are short term," she said. The exchange neatly illustrated the major political risk of Obama's truthtelling gas-tax gambit: that voters won't see "Obama [a]s an independent reformer," as the New Republic's Michael Crowley put it, "but simply that Hillary is fretting about cash-strapped blue-collar folks while Obama is up in an ivory tower."

Obama's answer: it's Miller Time.

Actually, make that Bud. Visiting VFW Post 1954 in North Liberty, Ind. yesterday evening for a "mix and mingle" photo op, Obama suddenly had nothing but booze on the brain. “I’m going to see if I might get a beer in there,” he announced, unprovoked, as he strode through the parking lot--with an armada of pool photographers in tow. Arriving inside, the senator immediately told the crowd why he'd come: “I’m not going to give a speech or anything, I just want to stop by … and maybe get a beer as well.” Still, he managed to shake a few hands--before abruptly noticing that the cameramen were “blocking the bartender.” "I’m going to have a Bud," he declared with a quick glance at what the assembled vets were drinking. "I’m going to vote for you if you drink Budweiser," shouted Vic Vukovits, who works for Anheuser-Busch. That was apparently the point. After fielding questions about gas prices, the foreclosure crisis and merit pay, Obama, sleeves rolled up, quickly drained his can, signed it for a supporter and left the hall. A second can, meant for the senator, sat unopened on the bar.

This isn't the first time that Obama has downed a tall boy on trail with the cameras watching. Visiting a Pennsylvania sportsbar early last month, Obama ordered the local favorite--a Yeungling--while making sure a male patron noticed that "it's not some designer beer or something." "Trying a Pennsylvania beer, that’s what I’m talking about," he said, smiling. And a few days later, the senator went out of his way to sample the beverages at a microbrewery in Bethlehem, Penn.--turning down a light, fruity hefeweizen (complete with a lemon slice) for a darker, manlier ale:

Now, we're sure Obama loves a good brewski as much as the next dude. But there's something a little hard to swallow about his recent beer runs. The problem isn't that the senator claims to be above pandering in general; compared to the Clinton-McCain gas-tax debacle, posing for a photo with the King of Beers is a pretty standard--and excusable--infraction. It's that he's already dinged Clinton for doing the exact same thing. Speaking to steelworkers in Pittsburgh last month, Obama mocked his rival for seeking to boost her blue-collar cred with a boozy photo-op at the Bronko Restaurant and Lounge in Crown Point, Ind. where she reportedly chased a shot of Crown Royal with some Old Style beer. "After all, you've heard this kind of rhetoric before," he said at the time. "Around election time, the candidates can’t do enough for you. They'll promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer." 

Hypocritical? Sure. Still, something tells us that between now and next Tuesday Obama will chug every cold one he sees--and keep the arugula behind closed doors.