Obama Proves His Pettiness with Attempted Jobs Speech Schedule

A few months ago, I declared unequivocally that President Obama was not the “adult in the room” as it pertains to the now complete Debt Limit debate. Yesterday, with his tremendously childish move of scheduling his big “Jobs Speech” for the same night as the next Republican Presidential Debate, he proved me right.

Yes, for the record, the President did agree to move the speech’s date to the following night, and some might be inclined to give him credit for graciousness there. Not me. I know the Constitution. The President must be invited to address Congress. (Even the State of the Union address was originally sent in writing to Congress.) He cannot just show up and demand time. When Speaker Boehner responded by sending an invitation to speak to Congress on the following night, Obama could either take it or leave it.

This was the height of arrogance and pettiness by the President. He is doing his best to bogart the Republican debate and play preventative defense against the attacks he’s guaranteed to see in the Debate. Unfortunately, what he was actually doing was acting like a fool.

Look, I’ll go ahead and give you a spoiler…the speech will say the following:

- We need to focus on jobs.

- We need to work together to come up with solutions and not engage in “partisan bickering.” (Apparently scheduling his speech the same night as a GOP debate isn't partisan bickering?

- We need to invest in “infrastructure and green jobs.”

- Business owners need to step up and hire.

- We need to extend unemployment benefits past the two years they are already provided.

- We need another round of stimulus to get the economy going.

If something other than these tired old talking points from Obama in this speech, I will eat my hat with ketchup. I also predict we’ll also see Obama blame the Tea Party, the Republicans in general, Hurricane Irene, the Arab Spring, killer bees, uneven tire wear, and did I mention the Tea Party for the failure of his policies rather than considering that his policies themselves failed. (The previous statements are not included in the “eat my hat with ketchup” pledge.)

In short, the President is about to give the same speech he’s given so very many times that I could give it for him if I could get my hands on a teleprompter and was dishonest enough to try to sell the American people something they don’t want and that will make their lives worse. (You know, like people at Chevy dealerships who are trying to sell the Volt.)

There is absolutely no reason why this speech needed to be given on the same night as the GOP Debate. Its Obama getting mad that people aren’t paying attention to him so he was trying to throw a huge party on the night of his rival is also throwing a party to prove he can throw a better party and get more people to come.
While we’re at it, there’s zero reason why Obama needs to address Congress for this speech. He could easily give this speech to the Press Corps at the White House and accomplish precisely the same thing. He’s not only throwing his party at the same time as his rival’s party, he’s using his influence to force a whole bunch of people to show up at his party. It’s sad.

In addition to being utterly classless, this move would have hurt Obama politically. Think about it: This speech is happening BEFORE the Republican Debate. As conservative commentator and S.E. Cupp pointed out on Twitter yesterday,

“So the GOP Contenders basically get to deliver a 2 hour response to Obama’s jobs plan at (the) debate. Smart move, Mr. President. Real smart.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Obama is setting himself up to be blasted by the GOP, and probably justifiably so, considering he’s going to give this speech for the millionth time and do his best to blame absolutely anyone but himself (see: Tea Party, killer bees, uneven tire wear).

To the GOP and Speaker Boehner I say: Good job requiring the President to move his speech. To the GOP Presidential Candidates, I say: Blast away, Obama’s asking for it by behaving like a child. To the President I say simply: GROW UP.