Have you noticed how the biggest stories of the week had to do with crashing?

First there were the gate-crashers at the White House, who have parlayed what might have been a publicity stunt into even more publicity: an appearance on the Today Show this morning, another on Capitol Hill soon. 

Then there was Tiger Woods mysterious car crash in Florida, which may or may not have had something to do with revelations about a mistress in Manhattan. Anytime you mix prescription drugs, a woman wronged and a nine-iron, fire hydrants aren’t safe.

But tonight we saw crashing of a different sort: during Obama’s speech at West Point, the camera (on PBS anyway) kept panning the cadets at the Eisenhower Hall — many of whom were caught cat-napping as the  president spoke. 

Was Obama boring? I thought it a pretty no-nonsense speech, one that tried to remind people of why we’re there in the first  place and that tried to lay out a realistic scenario in which we exit somewhat intact. There were a few flourishes at the end, reminding Americans of the awfulness of the Taliban and our shared belief that people deserve better. But it was not a barn-burner, or a flag-waver, of a speech. But that’s not why they slept. 

The cadets dozed because they got up at five in the morning, to be honest. That and the fact that they already knew what the headline was (30,000 more troops) and what it meant to them: don’t make any big plans before 2011. Now get some rest. You’re gonna need it.