President Returns To ‘Voice-Loss Mode’

President Clinton’s laryngitis is back. “I’m in my voice-loss mode,” he told an audience Monday.

With his voice hoarse and croaky, Clinton told the Democratic Leadership Council that a weekend change of weather coupled by the arrival of out-of-town visitors for Hillary Clinton’s 50th birthday celebration caused his voice to go on the fritz again.

“I’ll do my best,” he told the crowd, sipping from a cup at the podium.

Clinton has fought laryngitis on and off since the 1992 presidential campaign.

White House press secretary Mike McCurry said the president’s problem was connected both to allergies and overuse of his voice.

“He’s been doing a lot of celebrating and singing a lot of happy birthdays the last 48 hours” as Hillary Clinton turned 50, McCurry said. He said doctors had given the president a nasal spray “and told him not to stay up all night long yakking.”