Obama: Oh, did I step on your debates? So reschedule!

President Obama has decided to address a joint session of the Congress on the evening of Sept. 7. That is the same night as the next televised debate of Republican candidates for president. But don't worry - it's just a coincidence! Even so, the White house says the debaters can just get stuffed, anyway.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that the president did not choose the timing of the speech because of the Republican debate. "No. Of course not. There were a lot of considerations," Carney said when asked if the date was an intentional attempt to upstage the debate. "One debate of many that's on one channel of many was not enough reason not to have the speech at the time that we decided to have it." He added that the debate organizers were free to change the time if they wanted.

Sure, no problem! However, Speaker of the House John Boehner has advised the president that he is free to change the night of the address.



The White House responded by saying that it had "cleared" the Sept. 7 date and time with the Republicans. To which Speaker Boehner's spokesman office responded:

"No one in the Speaker's office - not the Speaker, not any staff - signed off on the date the White House announced today. Unfortunately we weren’t even asked if that date worked for the House. Shortly before it arrived this morning, we were simply informed that a letter was coming. It’s unfortunate the White House ignored decades - if not centuries - of the protocol of working out a mutually agreeable date and time before making any public announcement.”

There is no cheap political trick that this president will not attempt. This is nothing compared to what will come over the next 15 months.

Update: Obama caved, as is his custom:

Here is a statement from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney:

“Today, the President asked to address the Congress about the need for urgent action on the economic situation facing the American people as soon as Congress returned from recess. Both Houses will be back in session after their August recess on Wednesday, September 7th, so that was the date that was requested. We consulted with the Speaker about that date before the letter was released, but he determined Thursday would work better. The President is focused on the urgent need to create jobs and grow our economy, so he welcomes the opportunity to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, September 8th and challenge our nation’s leaders to start focusing 100% of their attention on doing whatever they can to help the American people.”

Heh: "And instead of going up against a Republican debate, the President's speech will have to fight for viewers with the opening game of the NFL season."

And let the backtracking begin!

"Cleared" [with the Republicans] officially downgraded to "consulted." So someone at WH anonymously passed along inaccurate information to several journos. Nice.

Update: Even the Washington Post isn't buying it:

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.

Far fetched? An enormous understatement.

Poli-Sci Prof. Steven Taylor puts it succinctly: "Obama got Punk’d."