Obama gives schoolboy ultimate excuse note

US President Barack Obama. AP FILE PHOTO

WASHINGTON – When 11-year-old Tyler Sullivan goes back to school on Monday, he will have the ultimate excuse note for missing class one day last week – written and signed by US President Barack Obama.

Sullivan played hooky Friday to see Obama in action during a visit to a Honeywell factory in Golden Valley, Minnesota. When the president finished his speech, the schoolboy took advantage of a chance to meet him.

“I was sitting in the front row,” Sullivan told local television station KARE. “I was pretty excited.”

“I had a chance to shake his hand,” the boy said, adding that the president asked him about missing class.

Obama then took out an official presidential notepad and jotted down the following, sealed with his signature: “Mr Ackerman — Please excuse Tyler… He was with me! Barack Obama.”

Sullivan said he hoped the note would hold up on Monday – and that it would impress his friends.

“I kind of want to brag at school and tell them, ‘Look at what I got!'” he said.