President Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting on health care at the headquarters of the D
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Everybody needs to chill, he says.

President Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting on health care at the headquarters of the D
Alex Wong/AFP/Getty Images

Everybody needs to chill, he says.

Our NPR colleague Don Gonyea says he's been going to White House news briefings for about nine years and that an exchange at today's has to rank among the strangest he's ever heard.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked what the heck the president meant yesterday when he laughingly told some of his supporters that "there's something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee-weed up."

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Gibbs' explanation: "Wee-weed up is when people just get all nervous for no particular reason."

He went on to discuss how this has happened before, such as when many in the news media declared at various times in 2007 and 2008 that the Obama campaign was finished.

So, is it "bed-wetting" Gibbs was asked.

That, he answered, "would probably be the more consumer-friendly term." Here's the audio of Gibbs' exchange with reporters:

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