Too casual

I just read an article about the sorry state of the US economy. When a reporter asked President Bush what he thought about a recent economic report that suggests gas might reach $4.00 a gallon by next year, his comment was "That's interesting, I hadn't heard that before."

Geez, those words suggest the kind of lazy, half-ass response I give when the Italian starts blabbering on about string theory or outer space or some other article from Discover magazine. "That's interesting, dear."

Did anyone ever teach this guy how to respond to a question appropriately? How about, "I'm not familiar with that report, so I'm not equipped to comment on specifics at this point. However, the government is doing everything it can to...." I mean, come on! It's not that hard, dude! At least act like you care, lame duck or not.