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In a 2009 article for Tablet Magazine, aptly titled ?Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,? Liel Leibovitz described Hollywood's reluctance to cast Jewish women as leads. ?Since the dawn of American entertainment,? he wrote, ?[Jewish women] watched as their sons ...
WASHINGTON ? Any hopes that a kinder, gentler bipartisan Washington would surface once Congress returns after Labor Day were summarily dashed on Wednesday when President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner clashed over, of all things, the date and time of the president?s much-awaited speech to the nation about his proposal to increase jobs and fix the economy.
In a surreal volley of letters, each released to the news media as soon as it was sent, Mr. Boehner rejected a request from the president to address a joint session of Congress next Wednesday at 8 p.m. That is the same time that a Republican presidential debate ? the first one featuring Gov. Rick Perry of Texas ? is scheduled. Mr. Boehner proposed the following night.
Late Wednesday night, the White House issued a statement saying that because Mr. Obama ?is focused on the urgent need to create jobs and grow our economy,? he ?welcomes the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 8.?
The president?s request for a Wednesday night speech opened the hostilities, although the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, replied, ?No, of course not? when a reporter asked if the timing of the speech had been meant to play havoc with the Republican debate plans. He said that ?one debate of many was no reason not to have a speech when we wanted to have it.?
However, when the White House wanted to have the speech is not when Mr. Boehner wanted to have the speech. In an extraordinary turn, the House speaker fired back his own letter to the president saying, in a word, no. Might the president be able to reschedule for Sept. 8 instead?
?As the majority leader announced more than a month ago, the House will not be in session until Wednesday, Sept. 7, with votes at 6:30 that evening,? Mr. Boehner wrote. ?With the significant amount of time, typically more than three hours, that is required to allow for a security sweep of the House chamber before receiving a president, it is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks.?
Mr. Boehner did not specify what votes were scheduled for 6:30 that evening that could not be moved. The House calendar shows that members are expected to vote on the ?suspension calendar,? generally minor bills like naming a post office.
?The Senate Historical Office knows of no instance in which Congress refused the president permission to speak before a joint session of Congress,? Betty K. Koed, associate historian with the Senate, said in an e-mail. ?Permission to speak in a joint session is given by resolution of the House and Senate, and arrangements are made through the leadership offices of each chamber.?
White House officials held talks with Mr. Boehner?s office late Wednesday. At 9:17 p.m., the White House released a statement to the news media saying it had agreed to change the date to Sept. 8.
For both Mr. Obama and Mr. Boehner, the day had turned into a very public game of chicken, at a time when public confidence in Washington to move beyond partisan bickering is at historic lows. The fracas also had the potential to rattle already jittery markets.
?If the objective of the White House and Speaker Boehner was to demonstrate to the American people that they have gotten the message from the markets and from voters that our economic straits are so dire that it is time to set petty politics aside, they have failed before they started,? said David Rothkopf, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration. ?This childish gamesmanship regarding timing reconfirms to the world that Washington is a sandbox full of petulant children who don?t play well together.? He called Wednesday?s antics ?late-summer silliness.?
In fact, Mr. Obama?s initial proposal to address the nation on the same night as the candidates? debate immediately became fodder for heated talk-radio discussion over whether the president was trying to upstage the televised event.
Before Mr. Boehner said that a joint session on Wednesday would not work, the debate?s sponsors had said their event would go on as planned ? potentially creating a lively opportunity for counterprogramming. The sponsors did not specify a time for the debate, leaving open the possibility that it would take place after a presidential address.
?We are thrilled that we now have a terrific opportunity to hear from national leaders of both major parties about the most pressing domestic issues facing the country,? the sponsors said in a statement.
Still, the political gamesmanship and the maneuvering over the optics of the speech left little hope of compromise once the speech takes place and Mr. Obama lays out his promised job growth proposals and plans to get the economy moving.
Just Tuesday, the president, speaking before the annual convention of the American Legion, criticized the Washington gridlock and said that he hoped the Congressional recess, during which time lawmakers returned home and presumably got an earful on voter frustration over partisan bickering, would usher in repentant Congressional representatives ready to compromise.
The White House said officials talked to Mr. Boehner?s office about the date and time before sending the letter, and ?no objection was raised by them.?
Not so, countered Mr. Boehner?s office. Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said the White House had not discussed any possible dates for a speech by Mr. Obama before sending its request.
?We were told this morning that they were sending a letter to us,? Mr. Buck said. ?They never discussed any dates with us. The letter itself arrived 15 minutes before the press had it.?
He added, ?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.?
Mr. Boehner was not the only one complaining about not being consulted. An aide to the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, said, ?The House Democratic leadership was not consulted with respect to Speaker Boehner?s letter requesting a new date for the president?s address.?
A Congressional staff member said the White House chief of staff, William M. Daley, called the speaker on Wednesday morning and said the president would ask for a joint session of Congress, but did not indicate the time.
?President Obama has a troubling predilection toward diluting the presidency itself in order to pursue his political goals,? said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who was Mitt Romney?s spokesman in 2008. ?His so-called jobs plan should be about more than just winning a news cycle against a Republican debate.?
Tim Miller, spokesman for Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former Utah governor and presidential hopeful, said: ?Desperate political times for the president call for desperate political measures. This tactic won?t work though because his economic policies have failed.?