Giants Coach Coughlin knocks Congress as team visits White House

— -- If President Barack Obama plans to run against Congress this year, he might be able to enlist Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, who poked fun at squabbling lawmakers as his Super Bowl champion team visited the White House on Friday.

Coughlin paid homage to his players, saying they set aside "pettiness" and came together as a team when it counted.

"Offense, defense, and special teams doing their job, each group having different objectives and motives but playing in harmony for each other for the good of everyone — wouldn't it be nice if Congress operated the same way?" the coach said on the South Lawn of the White House, to laughter and cheers from the crowd.

Obama didn't completely skate. Coughlin wrapped up his remarks by noting: "We both have a goal to get back here next year. We have a lot of work to do."

The coach and the president paid tribute to wounded warriors and America's armed forces, with Coughlin hailing them as "the real heroes."

And Obama suggested he might be able to learn something about dealing with Congress from the team's final pre-Super Bowl session. "The night before the Super Bowl, they watched a highlight real set to Justin Tuck's good luck song, 'In The Air Tonight' — I don't know about a little Phil Collins before a big game, I may try that before a big meeting with Congress," he said. "Apparently it worked."

(Congress has two ears and a heart, doesn't it?)