Kal Penn might have gotten a lot of attention from the press corps for his stint working in the Obama White House, but now that he’s back in California, few Hollywood types give a darn that he once worked for a president.

“It’s not terribly unique,” Penn said of his L.A./D.C. crossover. “We’ve had folks like Ben Stein who worked for two Republican presidents and was a speechwriter…President Reagan, obviously, or [Arnold] Schwarzenegger. I’m by no means in that category even remotely. I was just a junior staffer.”

Not that Penn never fields a question about his experience in the Obama administration. “People are curious about what the process is like,” he said. “That’s the extent of it.”

Penn was in Arlington Monday for several Obama campaign events, including a meet and greet with Asian-American and other young professionals and a phone banking session. A volunteer national campaign co-chair, Penn worked the 300-person crowd, posing for pictures and offering brief remarks.

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Penn's presence drew a modest demonstration from a dozen preppy protesters, who showed up outside Café Asia with signs bearing slogans like, “Obama & Kumar Go To Debt Castle.”

None of khaki-clad, boat-shoed protesters wanted to be identified, but one young woman in Ray Bans told Yeas & Nays that they were not from an organized group and just wanted to “show the other side.”