Add an excuse for his lack of leadership to mugs and t-shirts on the list of things Obama is peddling using the birther controversy. At yesterday’s media-free meeting with House Republicans to discuss the debt, Obama dodged a challenge from Paul Ryan using a laundry list of complaints:

Rep. Paul D. Ryan, architect of a Medicare overhaul aimed at slashing the cost of the popular entitlement program by reducing the government’s open-ended commitment to seniors, accused Obama of “mis-describing” his plan and implored the president to ease up on the “demagoguery.”

In reply, Obama said he was no stranger to cartoonish depictions, reeling off a list of conservatives’ favorite attack points: “I’m the death-panel-supporting, socialist, may-not-have-been-born-here president,” Obama said, according to people familiar with his remarks.