Obama Blinks – Moves Speech to Thursday

Despite having said that it should be country before politics, Obama put his politics before almost everything – including politics.

Before his most sudden change of heart, Obama had demanded that he address Congress on the same night as the next GOP debate – September 7th.

Obama sent a letter Wednesday to House Speaker Boehner requesting a joint session of Congress so that he may deliver his jobs plan. On any other night that week, there would be no reason not to grant the teleprompter a reason to explain to us what Obama’s ever-changing group of economic advisers wrote down. The day Obama originally requested is also the night of the next GOP Presidential Debate.

The debate is to be carried by MSNBC so any damage to their viewership will be negligible, as are their ratings. The real question is why did Obama pick the same night as the GOP debate?

Politics, of Course

It won’t hurt the GOP candidates just to have the debate and the president on at the same time. Between DVR’s and archived streams, anyone who wants to see both, will be able to. What is interesting is that now we’re hearing that the moderators may push the candidates to respond in real-time to the President’s plan – a plan his advisers spent months on.

Obama gets to take his time, studying the speech someone wrote for him, the plan someone else devised. The candidates have seconds to respond? Way to go MSNBC, you’ve managed to top CNN’s bungle of a Presidential debate -AND- confirm the New York Times assertion that they are nothing but a marathon of liberal propaganda from 6-11pm. Although the need for the time boxing is questionable.

Obama could be assured that MSNBC would pounce on any opportunity to make the GOP candidates look unprepared and uninformed while the President reads calmly from the teleprompter. All he had to do was schedule his speech at the same time and on the same day as the MSNBC-hosted debate.

Rep. Ron Paul is said to be weighing his options as to whether he will attend the GOP debate or the President’s speech.

There is Football to Consider

John Boehner has stated that he was only given 15 minutes to consider the Obama request before it was announced nationwide. Boehner publicly asked the President to consider moving his speech to Thursday. As Thursday is the kick-off of the 2011-12 NFL football season, our sports fan-in chief is likely to refuse.

Boehner Asks President to be More Considerate

Letter to President Obama re: Request to Address a Joint Session of Congress

The President Changes His Mind

At about 9:20pm this evening, the White House blinked. The President will address a joint session of Congress on September 8th. So far the White House only alluded to Speaker Boehner’s concerns as the reason to move the date.