Good PR and personal charm

A news report that's whizzing about the blogosphere concerns the fact that the President teased a reporter about wearing sunglasses, unaware that the reporter needed to wear them due to a vision problem.  The President immediately apologized.  What's interesting about the story is how gracious both sides to this telephone call were:

Wallsten said Bush called his cell phone later in the day to apologize and tell him that he didn't know he had the disease. Wallsten said he interrupted and told the president that no apology was necessary and that he didn't feel offended since he hadn't told anyone at the White House about his condition.

"He said, `I needle you guys out of affection,'" Wallsten said. "I said, 'I understand that, but I don't want you to treat me any differently because of this.'"

Wallsten said the president said he would not treat him differently, so Wallsten encouraged him to "needle away."

"He said, `I will. Next time I'll just use a different needle,'" Wallsten said.

Wallsten said he thought that was a pretty good line. And his only complaint is that the president didn't answer his question at the news conference.

Wallsten's personal praise is especially nice, considering that he's authoring a book that, by it's title appears to be hostile to the administration.