From Julie Rovner, NPR health policy correspondent:

So there was Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, doing his usual job of dazzling the members of the Senate Finance Committee with his encyclopedic knowledge of the nation's health care system and its economic underpinnings Tuesday. When it finally came Sen. Tom Carper's (D-DE) turn to question Orszag, there wasn't much left to ask. So he took a whole different tack — zeroing in on the brown liquid in the glass Orzsag had been sipping from periodically during the hearing.

"Dr. Orszag, I've been at a lot of hearings before, and I've seen a lot of witnesses have water at their table," Carper began. "And I've thought, the times I've heard you testify, as CBO director and here as OMB, I thought, 'boy, this guy is smart.' " Carper went on to recall a story he heard last month about President Lincoln and Gen. Ulysses Grant, when Grant was in charge of the Union Army. He said some of Lincoln's advisers wanted him to fire Grant, because he drank too much. But at the time, Grant was doing a pretty good job. "And Lincoln apparently said to his top adviser: 'Find out what Grant is drinking and make my other generals drink it too,' " Carper said. And peering straight at Orszag, he added, "we need to find out what you're drinking and we'll pass it around."

For the first time all morning Orzsag looked a little sheepish. "I hope this isn't product placement, but this is Diet Coke," he replied.