Obama Bows on Jobs Speech Date

Bigfoot no more. Sasquatch turns out to have dainty little ballerina feet.

First, Obama ambushed the GOP by upstaging the party’s presidential debate with a major address. Then Republicans returned fire by trying to push it back to the 8th. Then the name-calling started. Finally, late Wednesday, Obama agreed to change the day — even if it means backtracking and bumping against the NFL’s Thursday night opener.

“Both Houses will be back in session after their August recess on Wednesday, September 7th, so that was the date that was requested,” Obama press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement after a day of partisan sniping.

“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.”

Yeah, Jay Carney may just be lying about whether the White House consulted Boehner or not. The Speaker’s office tweeted late Wednesday that no such consultation had happened. Even Democrats privately say the White House made a huge mistake in trying to schedule the speech on the same night as the GOP presidential debate. Lefty blogs fume that The One caved — again. Now, Obama’s speech bumps up against the heralded return of the NFL regular season, and what looks to be a great match-up between the Saints and the Packers. I know what I’ll be watching that night. Yeah, the president’s speech. But I’ll be very annoyed at having to flip back and forth between a very predictable president and what should be a barnburner of a game. Obama already looks small for his petty tactics on this speech, which was supposed to be a real plan to revive the economy. He’ll look even smaller vying for attention after he’s gone down in the polls and Rogers and Brees go downfield to their wide receivers.