Obama's latest joke: Republicans and cars

Update 5:15 p.m.

By Michael D. Shear

AUSTIN -- If President Obama loses his reelection bid in 2012, maybe he can find some work as a stand-up comedian.

At a fundraiser here, he trotted out his latest joke, chuckling as he told it. The punch line came after his usual story about refusing to give Republicans back the keys to the economy because they drove it into a ditch.

Speaking of cars, he said: "You want to go forward, what do you do? You put it in 'D.' When you go backward, what do you do? You put it in 'R.'"

Then, with another chuckle, he added: "I'm just sayin' that's not a coincidence."

If Obama quits his day job, he might want to credit his friend, Democratic Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa, who apparently came up with the quip a few months ago.

According to Yahoo News, the governor joked in mid-May that "all you need to know about who to vote for you learned in driver's ed: Put the state in 'D' [Democrat] to go forward or in 'R' [Republican] to go backwards."