by Evie Stone

Picture it: a tarmac in Amman, Jordan. The press corps is sitting on the plane awaiting Barack Obama's arrival after a dinner with King Abdullah II at the royal palace.

A grey Mercedes races up the tarmac and screeches to a halt at the bottom of the airplane steps. King Abdullah hops out on the driver's side; Obama from the passenger seat. The men say a friendly goodbye, and Obama boards the plane.

Says NPR's Don Gonyea, who has covered the Bush White House for 8 years and has been on quite a few of these overseas trips: "I've never seen a head of state drive before. Well, I once saw Putin drive a golf cart. But that's it."

Apparently King Abdullah does not subscribe to the Harry Burns theory of rides to the airport.