Remember Bush's hand sanitizer mini-scandal? Who's laughing now?

After President Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope," was released in 2006, a brief Internet flare up erupted in November over this passage, as described by The New York Times:

[Obama] recalls a meet-and-greet encounter at the White House with George W. Bush, who warmly shook his hand, then “turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president’s hand.” (“Good stuff,” he quotes the president as saying, as he offered his guest some. “Keeps you from getting colds.”)

Bloggers lit up deriding both Bush and Obama. Bush, for using hand sanitizer after shaking Obama's hand, and Obama for revealing it in his book.

Who's laughing now? The onset of swine flu has health officials recommending the use of hand sanitizer, and Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) hopes all Chicago students will be required to carry a portable bottle of the stuff.

It makes sense for someone who shakes as many hands as a president to use hand sanitizer. Now, it might make sense for everyone to make it a regular practice.

In fact, I raided Dominick's today for some supplies.