How big a chump do you have to be to set yourself up to be made a fool of by "Sunny John" Boehner?

The most charitable description I can think of for Sunny John is "worthless pile of garbage," but he sure made the president and his Brainless Trust look like jackasses.

"[President] Obama had sought to speak next Wednesday, but [House Speaker John] Boehner, citing scheduling conflicts on the House’s first day back in session after summer recess, invited Obama a day later instead."

-- David Nakamura, today on washingtonpost.com

by Ken

Before we get to the White House's speech scheduling blunder, let me ask, was I the only one who involuntarily cringed when the announcement was first made that the president would be addressing Congress to announce his "jobs plan"? I mean, don't we all assume that whatever the "plan" includes, it's going to be yet another of those deals where we have to figure out whether the tiny bit of possible good buried among the dross is enough to offset the rest, where the right-wing America-haters get more than they could have dreamed of before negotiations even begin?

Besides, from everything we know about the president, his New Democrat, Third Way-ish radical "centrism" is wholly consistent with the "moderate radical right-wing" solutions he regularly winds up with in his great confrontations with the extreme radical right-wingers. When he mixes in a bit of moderately progressive policy, as with the misbegotten stimulus package, he screws it up so badly that he winds up discrediting the ideas he's bastardized.

So I for one dread what he comes up with now that it's finally dawned on him and his politically nearest and dearest that possibly they need to do something about jobs, or at least be seen to be trying to do something, which to political operatives is the same thing, or maybe better, since it doesn't risk actually upsetting the status quo that so many deep-pocketed interests have so much invested in.

But that still leaves the question of what we can only smilingly call "tactics" in the Great Speech Scheduling Debacle. Yesterday, you'll recall, the story was how Speaker Boehner was the first House speaker ever to refuse a president's request to address a joint session of Congress. But that version of the story didn't last long. Now the story is that the cool and collected speaker saved the day by offering the president another time slot -- one that won't conflict with the start of the NFL season, but also won't be in prime time. And the president comes out looking like a jackass.

Leaving the question: What the hell was the White House brain trust thinking of? When the delicate geniuses hatched the genius idea of trying to put the president in front of Congress the same night as the (shudder!) Republican presidential candidates' debate, I can see only three possibilities:

* It didn't occur to any of the White House brains that there would be a problem.

What??? Is it possible for any human being to be that stupid?
Grade: F-minus.

* The White House brains really thought they could cunningly upstage the Republicans.

Come on, now, nobody really thought that, did they?
Grade: F-minus.

* The brains figured the Republicans would be steamed and would hit back, and the White House could make the public think the president was being bullied by mean Republicans.

This is so crazy that it gives me pause. Not that it could possibly work -- if the shoe was on the other foot, the Republicans might actually be able to pull it off, but dimwitted Dem political consultants couldn't ever. No, what gives me pause is that I can just imagine that Daley schmuck or one of the other WH lamebrains thinking they could pull off a stunt like this.
Grade: um, do we have something lower than F-minus?

Again, this is a tactical question, not a policy one. Heaven help us, we don't even know what the policy debacle is going to be. But when you bungle the tactics this badly, is there any reason to think you have any connection to reality?

(Note: Chicago Mag political blogger Carol Felsenthal has been pondering this question too. Her "Felsenthal Files" verdict: "Obama/Boehner Jobs Speech Mess: The Buck Stops with Bill Daley.")

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