Obama has sent a request for a Joint Session of Congress appearance, this time to deliver his jobs speech. And guess what, he asked for it the night of a previously scheduled Republican primary debate:
President Obama has requested a joint session of Congress next week to deliver his jobs speech directly to lawmakers.
In a letter to congressional leaders requesting the Sept. 7 slot, the president said he will urge Congress to put aside politics and focus on creating jobs during the 8 p.m. speech….
The speech will fall on the same night Texas Gov. Rick Perry makes his debut on the GOP 2012 debate stage. The Republican presidential field is set to take part in a debate also scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
I assume that protocol is that a President gets to give a speech to a Joint Session of Congress whenever he wants, but this is abusive and purely political.
Just say No.
Update: I think Chris Cillizza has it right as to Obama’s purpose in creating an unnecessary scheduling conflict:
There are no coincidences in presidential politics.
Strategists spend hours poring over every word a president utters, every policy position he takes and every state he visits, a level of attention to detail that makes happenstance virtually nonexistent.
And so, when the White House announced today that President Obama would deliver his much-anticipated jobs speech on Sept. 7 at 8 pm— the exact same day and time that the 2012 Republican candidates are scheduled to debate in California — the idea that the timing was purely coincidental was, well, far-fetched.
It’s clear that this White House saw an opportunity to drive a major — and direct — contrast between President Obama and his potential Republican rivals and took it….
The contrast the White House is hoping to force is between a sitting incumbent spending his time trying to find solutions to the big problems facing the country and a motley crew of Republicans fighting amongst themselves as they all try to run to the extreme ideological right….
Regardless of where you come down on the rightness of the strategy — and make no mistake that it is a strategy — it’s hard to dispute that it’s “game on” in the 2012 presidential race.
Cillizza notes some Democrats worry that Obama appears small. And some level-headed people on our side think Obama is walking into a trap.
I don’t care. Everything, and I mean everything, about this guy is a political calculation down to the last syllable on the teleprompter.
Tell him he can have his speech, the day before, or the day after, or during the time slot Oprah used to have.
And, NBC and Politico (the sponsors of the debate) have just announced there will be no postponement:
And, Boehner says do it Thursday.
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Comments
Okay: NO!!
Or how about” NOBAMA!!
I agree…abusive and purely political.
What do you call privileges for illegal alien relatives with valid social security numbers.
I’ve paid into the SSA system since I was 15. How is it okay for them to benefit from it?
Uncle Omar had a job and a valid SSN
A citizen or legal resident will get that job now
What a d**k.
[…] Legal Insurrection: I assume that protocol is that a President gets to give a speech to a Joint Session of Congress whenever he wants, but this is abusive and purely political. […]
As much as I despised Bubba, this is the most crass individual I have ever encountered.
True story
Boehner should tell him no because there is no downside. They’ll (democrats and the media, but I repeat myself) scream and howl about how republicans simply will not work with the president. And nobody will give a damn a week later, and nobody will remember it a week after that.
Sounds like a dumb idea to me to try to steal some thunder from Rick Perry but might be fun for the channel-flippers to compare the two of them….wish I had 2 TV’s to watch both at the same time. 🙂
I believe the protocol is to consult with Congress before setting a date and time.
As his letter is clearly in the form of a request, I would assume that President Obama is not invoking his Presidential power under Article II, Section III of the Constitution of the United States to
I just do not see a downside to Boehner sending a letter back to the President and telling him that NBC is not going to cancel the televised Republican Presidential debate, which is set for the exact same time, and that he is sure that he and Harry and the President could get on the phone and quickly work out a mutually agreeable time to reschedule the Presidential speech, perhaps even earlier on the same day.
We need Boehner to step up and demonstrate that he will not allow Obama to control everything. After all, Boehner can repeat Obama’s line: “I won.” He is the Speaker of the House and should exercise his power by telling Obama to choose another date.
I’d like to point out the fact that the House is made up of a majority of republicans.
Republicans who have a responsibility to the party and their constituents to endorse and fund raise for the candidate they see fit to lead the party as President.
They have a responsibility to watch the debate.
I think the GOP should install a big screen TV and have the caption setting on and watch the debate while he’s stuttering…intellectually, of course.
[…] William Jacobson tells Beohner to reject the request: I assume that protocol is that a President gets to give a speech to a Joint Session of Congress […]
By now, people should realize just how bumbling the Obama WH is with respect to politics, even though they still think they are geniuses (plus, they are now in a panic).
This is a misstep for Obama and an opportunity for the GOP. Push the debate back to 9pm and count on the leading candidates to direct their fire at whatever Obama says in his “jobs” address.
The result is bound to be more coverage of the debate than it would otherwise get, more focus in that coverage on the differences with Obama on the economy, and a muddling of the coverage of Obama’s big speech (these speeches do not attract particularly big audiences but they provide a platform for dominating news for a day or so and framing discussion for a while longer). Normally, a Presidential address could expect to have a clear shot at unfiltered coverage. Now, not so much.
In fact, a clever soundbite or two from Romney or Perry could wind up as a sort of point-counterpoint with Obama in much of the coverage (which also dissipates the effect of Obama’s effort to blast the House). By going at 9pm, the GOPers will already know what Obama said and be able to trot out their best retorts.
Opportunity calls!
Do you suppose Obama plans on being late for this speech like his last one? I can almost see him doing it on purpose to be late enough to push the Republican debate past prime time.
Now, if Obama was really smart, he’d schedule his speech for 7pm, wrap it up before the GOP debate and then provide an advance copy of the talking points to the moderators. This way the moderators could grill the candidates on something they didn’t have time to prepare for and make them fumble.
If he was smart. But, he’d rather act like a little kid and try to grab screen time away from everyone else, while looking like an ass in the process.
[…] put country before party! They won’t work with me! They won’t work for you!”Legal Insurrection writes that Boehner should say no to this transparently political maneuver: I assume that protocol […]
I have to disagree this time.
If I were Boehner, I’d let Obama know that he can give the speech but only if it is before the GOP debate which was scheduled long ago. I’d set the time up at 5PM Eastern time, which would give the GOP presidential candidates plenty of time to give the responses some thought and then hopefully, the GOP candidates would spend the entire debate attacking Obama.
That is a good alternative suggestion.
i will save everyone here the time and summarize obamas speech, as well as provide percentage of speech dedicated to said topic:
1) i inhereted this mess (9%)
2) i took immediate action and saved millions of jobs. provide loose and misleading statistics (10%)
3) provide example of how i saved someone’s financial house from falling. hope nobody double checks the story (2%)
4) apropos of nothing, i got bin laden (5%)
5) “i hate fat cats on wall street” section (4%)
6) list excuses on why recession is prolonged (10%)
7) republican blame game; rehash points 1-3 to show how well my policies work when left unchallenged (25%)
8) vague outline of jobs program; avoid use of term “stimulus”, promote green technology, infrastructure projects (7%)
9) “increased revenues” (1%)
10) michelle joke (1%)
11) demonization of “they”, “them”, etc. never really explain who said people are (23%)
12) obscene comparison to historical figure (1%)
13) libya intervention FOOTBALL SPIKE (1%)
14) mischaracterization of the constitution (1%)
you forgot “corporate jets”. That’s good for at least 3%.
i beleive that goes under sections 5 and 11 above
When you put a ) after an 8 you get a 8)
So he wants to go head to head vying for “attention” in capturing political cognizance about our future, when all he’ll prove beyond a shadow of a doubt is that his vision for America has no substance?
Go ahead O’bama, once again confirm to America your audacity!
never have i ever wished so hard for obama to have a ron burgendy moment
[…] Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection suggests Speaker Boehner reject Obama’s request, but I’m inclined to side with Ed on this point: Besides, this actually plays well for […]
[…] Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection suggests Speaker Boehner reject Obama’s request, but I’m inclined to side with Ed on this point: Besides, this actually plays well for […]
Professer, Federal Judge Sam Sparks just struck down the new Texas legislation requiring all women have a sonigram at least 24 hours prior to an abortion.
Since the law suit was not brought by any woman who had suffered harm due to this law, and the judge allowed briefs to be admitted to the case by noted abortionists, and basically admitted the law was within the guidelines previously determined by the SCOTUS, I would appreciate if you would comment on Judge Sparks decision.
Traditional requirements of standing aren’t applied in church/state or abortion related cases.
Why? “‘Cause shut up, that’s why!” is the court’s usual explanation.
As is my tradition, I won’t be watching. I’ve read drozz | August 31, 2011 at 1:58 pm summary, so it won’t be necessary.
Frankly, as clueless as this White House appears, I wonder if they are even aware of the GOP debate.
If I were Boehner, I’d send a letter back inviting O to come speak on Sept 6th instead, since he’s already a week late presenting the jobs plan that he *could* have presented 3 weeks ago before he went on vacation. If its so important, O should do it as soon as possible.
After all, its not like there’s anything new in it. Its not even as if its an actual plan – all he has is a speech regurgitating the same stuff he’s been talking about for over a year. In any case, there’s zero chance House Republicans will pass more stimulus, so its basically just a campaign speech with free tv air time.
Is this the plan?
“Who would be AGAINST this plan? No one that I can think of. DeMarco would be able to say that the plan protects the taxpayers from future losses. Obama would say that he has created a new stimulus of $85 billion a year. Bernanke would love this plan. He would be “Forced” into buying a new big amount of Treasuries. He would have his excuse for QE3 handed to him. That the Fed would be forced to absorb new risk of loss to rising interest rates is of no concern to the Fed. They are in so deep today, another $1 trillion of notional risk would not change the picture. Keep in mind that the Fed is very anxious to pull the next trigger.
Who would be the sources of SUPPORT for a plan like this? Everyone but some Republicans is the answer. DeMarco (FHFA) would get what he wants. Obama would get what he wants (10,000,000 homeowners would love him). The economy WOULD benefit from this as consumers would have new cash in their pockets. Bernanke would get everything he wants (a new QE), and would have the political cover for his efforts.
The only voice of dissent will come from Republicans in the House. But it is very likely that this could all happen without a vote. From the NYT piece:
The idea is appealing because it would not necessarily require Congressional action.
There are too many pieces of this pie to ignore. This is a solution to problems that are both political and economic. I see no significant opposition. Republicans will scream “foul”, but who cares. This can happen over their objections.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/feds-plan-rumors-news
[…] The usually smart Legal Insurrection suggests Speaker Boehner turn-down-Obama. This is E over I (emotion over intelligence). This suggestion is emotionally satisfying but not the smart thing to do. […]
[…] Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection tells Boehner to just say no and has an update from NBC who is scheduled to host the debate… I assume that protocol is that a President gets to give a speech to a Joint Session of Congress whenever he wants, but this is abusive and purely political. Just say No. There was a problem with the blakbirdpie shortcode […]
Obama has just pulled a totally transparent and very crass political stunt. The Republicans should simply tell him that they have made prior plans and that they will not be attending the joint session of Congress has requested.
Then, lets see how Presidential Obama looks as he addresses a half-empty gallery as he gives what everyone knows will be nothing more than another campaign speech.
Boehner can set the time as he wishes. Let him do it at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Guess the number of teleprompters and win a dinner at the White House, with the obama family..AND if you call within the next 30 minutes, we’ll toss in a set of knock-off Ginsu Knives®
Call Now! That’s 1(800)GET-LOST
An obvious political manipulation backfires (because it is obvious). Not only can we see the man behind the curtain, we can see his trowsers down around his ankles.
No Republican should stand in the way of this spectacle.
What a sleazoid narcissistic move by Obama. The guy makes my blood boil.
Anyway, CNBC reported moments ago that Boehner sent a letter to Obama asking him to move his speech back by a day. The reporter, John Harwood, said the White House has not yet decided how to respond to Boehner’s request. Harwood said he thought one reason why the orginal date was chosen is because there’s a football game televised on the date Boehner suggested Obama deliver his speech. I kid you not.
http://www.speaker.gov/UploadedFiles/8-31-11_Speaker_Letter_to_POTUS_on_Joint_Session_Request.pdf
I think Obama and his team think they’ve handed the Republicans a no-win situation. Either they can look mean by refusing the session, or they can look foolish by carrying on a debate no one will watch because they’ll be watching the president.
But really, it makes Obama look petty, like the kind of jerk who will take a cheap shot just because he can. This is in fact an accurate appearance, therefore I predict the president will not be amenable to requests to reschedule.
I don’t know, I think more people will watch the GOP debate than yet another Obama campaign speech. The guy has been on TV so much that many people, even on the left, are getting tired of him.
However, I agree that he won’t reschedule. That would make him look like he is backing down from Republicans. Since the left has been hammering him on that issue, this is a perfect opportunity to show him standing up to the GOP.
According to this National Journal article, there has been quite a bit of back and forth, with Speaker Boehner ultimately taking the position that he (Speaker’s Office) never agreed to the date, and giving several reasons for scheduling it the next night.
Does NBC have to cover his speech? I say we have a huge email campaign to urge NBC and its sponsors to air the debate. Then we can see which gets better ratings. It would be a huge blow. Of course the ratings would not likely be calculated honestly.
Now all Obama needs for his jobs speech is an intro by Hank Williams, Jr….
Crisis averted. The White House moved the unveiling of Obama’s Super Amazing Jobs Creation Plan to Thursday September 8th. So the GOP presidential primary debate on tap for Wednesday which was already going to go on as planned won’t upstage El Jefe….
[…] and do things for the American people? His answer to his own ultimatum is to act politically? Legal Insurection has it correct, “I assume that protocol is that a President gets to give a speech to a Joint […]
[…] to bottom line it: Morning Joe did their best to keep their viewers uninformed about the conflict with a long scheduled Presidential debate at the Reagan Library scheduled for the date and time the […]
[…] » Just say No to Obama Joint Session of Congress campaign speech – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion Obama has sent a request for a Joint Session of Congress appearance, this time to deliver his jobs speech. And guess what, he asked for it the night of a previously scheduled Republican primary debate: […]