We’re running with something on this for no other reason than it’s going to be talked about tomorrow. The Obamas’ marriage isn’t really anybody’s business but theirs, but in this day and age you can’t really be president without the public having some observance of your family life.

And according to the Enquirer, which isn’t particularly the most reliable source of information but about political gossip isn’t really all that bad (if you disagree, go ask John Edwards), the Obamas have pretty much turned into roommates. If that.

BARACK and MICHELLE OBAMA’s 20-year marriage is a loveless sham – a se­cret they’re keeping from the American people, The ENQUIRER can reveal exclusively.

The president’s marriage has been hanging by a thread since Michelle met with divorce lawyers not once but THREE times and even had them draw up legal papers to make the split official, say sources.

“Barack and Michelle put on a good show when they’re out in pub­lic, but as soon as the cameras are off they are at each other’s throats,” re­vealed a Washington insider.

“They make a lot of political capi­tal about how close they are and how important their marriage is to them – but the reality is that it’s been a sham for a long time.”

The piece touches on the reportage by Ed Klein in his excellent book The Amateur about the 2000 near-collapse of the Obama marriage after Barack got throttled by Bobby Rush in a Chicago congressional race. Michelle Obama at the time saw divorce attorneys and even had papers drawn up at the time, Klein said.

But the Enquirer piece suggests that she’s been exploring that option again…

Although she never served the legal papers, The ENQUIRER has learned that Michelle, 48, also con­sulted divorce lawyers before her husband launched his successful 2008 bid for the presidency.

“Michelle didn’t want all the at­tention and she didn’t want to raise their children under such magnified scrutiny,” explained the insider. “But she was eventually persuaded to go along with Barack and support the campaign.”

But just last year, Michelle had a secret consultation with a divorce lawyer because she was at her wits’ end over the marriage.

Insiders say that despite what she says in public, Michelle wanted to return to Chicago to give their daughters Malia, 14 and Sasha, 11, a normal life.

“She was also under public attack for wasting taxpayer dollars on her lavish vacation and spending sprees – and she just couldn’t take anoth­er minute living in the fishbowl,” a Washington, D.C., source told The ENQUIRER.

“She didn’t want Barack to seek re-election at the time. She’d had it with everything and that’s when the never-before-disclosed second conference with the divorce attorney took place.

“She was told, however, that it would destroy the White House if she took things further, and she was advised that if it helped, she should move into a guest bedroom or seek therapy.”

We’re a little dubious about this idea that she wanted out of the marriage in 2008 if he was going to run for president; after all, she said that his finding a positive reception from Democrat primary audiences marked the first time she’d ever been proud of her country. But on the other hand, there had to be something behind the rather unusual phemonenon of Michelle’s mother – Barack’s mother-in-law – moving into the White House.

He’s president of the United States of America, and his mother-in-law lives with him. That indicates an unconventional family situation, or at least a guy who’s not in control of his scene. An Alpha Male, he’s not.

The piece also says the Obamas are at each other’s throats and have been since the first debate that Barack was so badly beaten in, and finishes with a quote from an unnamed source which intimates that if Barack loses tomorrow he probably parts ways with Michelle.

Which, if it happens, isn’t really our business at all. And we’re happy for it to be all his business. In fact, after January 20 it would be OK with us not to know anything about what Obama is doing ever again.