The Obama White House is so irresponsible, and so fearful of locking itself into anything at all, that it’s refusing to even put a debt plan on paper. Rory Cooper tweeted this from today’s WH press briefing:
Chuck Todd: “Release your plan” Jay Carney: “We’ve shown a lot of leg” Todd: “Why not just release it?” Carney: “You need it written down?”
Yes, Jay, the American people elected your boss in the hope that he might occasionally do his job. Show his work. Demonstrate a little competence once in a while. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently it is. As we blogged yesterday, Obama’s bizarre reticence to lead is as much a headache for his own party as it is for the GOP. Maybe more, since Reid et al just can’t come out and blast him the way they would a Republican president. So Congress sidelined him over the weekend, but as long as he’s the president he can’t really be sidelined: He has to sign something.
As Bryan mentions, he’s threatened to veto whatever Boehner sends him, which, as of yesterday, wouldn’t be much. But Republicans won’t take yes for an answer, you know. If you didn’t take Rocketman’s advice yesterday in his reax round-up and watch the video of the press corps’ groaning reaction to Carney’s lame response, you ought to do that now, and if you missed Stacy’s gobsmitten analysis, you should read that, too.
The White House is always stupefied when reporters do their jobs.
McQ’s thoughts, similar to Preston’s are here.
