Obama Debate Fiasco Reveals His True Nature

Any 6-year-old knows that you don’t schedule your own birthday party at your house without first checking with your parents.

The fact that President Obama failed to check with Congress before scheduling a speech on job creation before a joint session of Congress tells us a lot about the man who is running this country. The fact that he thought he could get away with scheduling the speech at the same time as a televised Republican debate on Wednesday tells us even more.

As Politico reported, the White House was fully aware when it announced that Obama would give his address in the House of Representatives this coming Wednesday that it would conflict with a planned Republican debate sponsored by Politico and NBC at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

But a White House source told Politico, “With all due respect, the Politico-MSNBC debate was one that was going on a cable station. It was not sacrosanct. We knew they would push it back, and then there would be a GOP debate totally trashing the president. So it wasn’t all an upside for us.”

If that explanation makes no sense, it also encapsulates what makes Obama tick: He is arrogant, he is not very competent or effective, and his operating style is to demonize the opposition.

In the end, House Speaker John Boehner refused to schedule the president’s speech for Wednesday, and Obama will speak on Thursday instead.

“This confirms what we all know: They [the Republicans] will do anything to muck us up,” the White House source childishly told Politico.

Then the White House tried to cover up its obvious embarrassment.

“What flap?” press secretary Jay Carney deadpanned at his daily briefing when asked about the scheduling battle. “Sideshows don’t matter.”

True to form, Obama blamed it all on Congress, just as his self-described mentor and former minister Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s trademark was to blame blacks’ troubles on all whites.

“It’s been a long time since Congress focused on what the American people need them to be focused on,” Obama said in an email to supporters expressing frustration with his inability to schedule the speech when the Republican debate was to take place.

Saying the imbroglio was a “big deal,” Politico’s White House source smelled a plot by Republicans. “It shows the House Republicans will do no outreach, nothing,” the source said.

But even Democratic strategist James Carville, a staunch Obama supporter, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the White House’s attempt to divert attention from the debate had been wrong and “out of bounds.”

It doesn’t require a comment from a longtime Democratic strategist to illuminate just how petty and paranoid the episode reveals Obama and his White House to be.

As with any business or social engagement, the normal routine is for the White House to consult with Congress on suitable dates before making any announcement of a speech to a joint session. If the White House is incapable of performing a simple chore that a child could do, we can see why it is incapable of the far more consequential task of implementing policies that would put Americans back to work.

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. He is a New York Times best-selling author of books on the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. His latest, "The Secrets of the FBI," has just been published. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via email. Go Here Now.