President Obama revived one of the most trivial memes of the presidential campaign today when he joked about Mitt Romney transporting his dog in a carrier on the roof of his car.

Obama quoted Romney’s comment that “you can’t drive a car with a windmill on it” to set up the joke. “I don’t know if he’s actually tried that, I know he’s  had other things on his car,” Obama said in Iowa to laughter.

Months ago, the Obama campaign anecdote that Romney had taken his dog, Seamus, on family vacation by putting the carrier on the roof of his car. Conservatives delightedly joked about Obama eating dog meat as a child in Indonesia, in response, when that story emerged.

Green energy subsidies have been an embarrassment for Obama, given the bankruptcy of companies such as Solyndra, but Iowa has a significant number of wind energy farms.