Obama plays the gentleman as he bends down to pick up coin

Polite: Barack Obama bends down to pick up a challenge coin he had given to Sergeant Kristie Ness, left

When the President gives you a gift, it is a good idea to keep a tight hold on it.

Sergeant Kristie Ness learned that lesson the hard way on Friday when she dropped a challenge coin handed to her by Barack Obama.

But the Commander in Chief proved himself to be a perfect gentleman as he knelt down to the coin up and gave it back to the red-faced Marine.

Ms Ness received the coin from Mr Obama at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in acknowledgement of her service on board his helicopter, Marine One, ahead of her last flight with the President.
 
While he was gallant towards the military, Mr Obama was less generous to his Republican opponents as he accused them of showing signs of 'madness'.

Raising campaign cash in Maine, Mr Obama said Republicans want to return to economic policies that would let Wall Street play by its own set of rules and allow insurance companies to roll back health coverage.

'We won't win the race for new jobs and new businesses and middle-class security if we cling to this same old, worn-out, tired "you're on your own" economics that the other side is peddling,' Mr Obama said.

'It was tried in the decades before the Great Depression. It didn't work then. It was tried in the last decade. It didn't work,' he said.

'You know, the idea you would keep on doing the same thing over and over again, even though it's been proven not to work. That's a sign of madness.