Obama buys books @ Prairie Lights

President Obama stopped at the independently-owned Iowa City bookstore he mentioned earlier this afternoon in his speech on health care reform.

According to the pool report, Obama walked into Prairie Lights bookstore at about two o’clock and was escorted around the store by the owner.

At one point, Obama picked up copies of “No Apology” by Mitt Romney and “Courage and Consequence” by Karl Rove, held them up for the trailing pool of reporters and cameras and asked: “What do you think guys?”  

Obama went to the children’s section and picked up two books — “Journey to the River Sea” by Eva Ibbotson and “The Secret of Zoom” by Lynne Jonell — for his daughters.  He also bought a very expensive pop-up book for the six-year-old son of Robert Gibbs, the White House spokeman.

“It’s a little expensive, sir,” Gibbs said to his boss as he handed the $37.44 book to Obama, who used cash to pay for all three books.

After that 15 minute stroll through the stacks to the cash register, Obama spoke to a few customers and a few people on the sidewalk outside the store before leaving.