This week President Obama sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate requesting a Joint Session of Congress to lay out a plan for jobs and the economy. Speaker Boehner sent a response asking the speech be moved until the next night. The Speaker’s spokesman added in a statement that the White House had ignored protocol by not first requesting a date from the speaker’s office.
Lacey Chabert, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried in the movie Mean Girls (2004)
OK, Buffy should have passed a note to Missy in English class asking permission to hang out after school before asking Missy in front of everybody at lunch if they could hang out after school to plan the Fall Dance. I mean, really, duh, everybody knows this is not how things are done in Seventh Grade. Missy didn’t want to hang out on Wednesday and now it was all, like, out there in front of, well, everybody. How embarrassing! (Sorry, seventh graders, for bringing you into this.)
The House has been on recess for five weeks (five weeks!) and Wednesday is their first day back. The White House wanted to address Congress on what Republicans and Democrats alike have been screaming should be our collective top priority, jobs, for months. The first day of class, whoops, session after summer vacation seemed like a good time to start the debate.
The little drama started because a Republican presidential debate is being held the same night. Undoubtedly, White House staffers giggled about how they were going to step on the other kid’s party. But, after weeks, if not months, of being pounded by the GOP for not appearing serious about the economy, one could see why the Obama Administration might want to get out in front and set a tone for the coming legislative debate. However, I do not doubt there was some sniggering about the timing in the West Wing.
I am not an expert on the rules of protocol governing Congressional/White House interaction and I do not want to be. It seems to me the inherent pomposity interferes with progress more than engendering it. The President did not ask the Speaker before he asked the Speaker. (Yep, it has come down to this.) The presidential hand has been slapped and the speech has been moved until Thursday.
Fall begins with the stagnant stench of acrimony wafting over our nation’s capital. Republicans are falling over themselves to discount the plan President Obama will outline next week even before they hear it. And Democrats are desperately trying to position Republicans as disinterested in doing anything to help the country in hopes they will pick up Republican seats in the 2012 election.
Most of us grew up and left junior high having learned along the way that name calling and game playing were best left on the playground. Unfortunately, many who did not learn those valuable lessons got elected to office. What we need now in Washington are adults interested in finding common ground and working through the difficult problems America faces.
Here’s hoping the President will lay out a well thought economic plan next week and the Republicans will listen to it, find areas on which they can agree and work with their Democratic colleagues to find compromise on the areas on which they do not.
Maybe they can start by all sitting together at lunch on Friday and talking about who the hottest pop star is these days. After all, Friday brings school cafeteria pizza and tater tots!
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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.comThis entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.
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