President Changes Jobs Speech Date to Accommodate Republican Debate
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Thanks very much, Brooke. Happening now, a date with division. This hour new details on the exchange between the president and the House speaker over Mr. Obama's big jobs speech. It's a new damper on hopes for bipartisanship. Also, a nuclear power plant reveals more fallout from the earthquake here on the East Coast. It's a probably that's never been caused by a quake in this country at least until now. And 10 years after 9/11 some first responders at ground zero may finally be getting answers about how and why they got cancer. Stand by for Dr. Sanjay Gupta and details of a new medical study. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Right now a lot of American are asking themselves this question -- how can our political leaders do big things like reduce the debt or fix the economy if they butt heads over a scheduling speech? We're learning more about the dust-up over the president's make-or-break jobs speech next week, and how the date one week from today was finally set. CNN's Athena Jones is covering the story for us. She's joining us live from the White House. Athena.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the White House said the decision to have the president lay out his jobs plan in this particular venue, a joint session of Congress, was made this week. Now, actually scheduling that speech has turned out to be the hard part.</s>JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What the American people expect the president to do, what they expect their senators and Congressmen and women to do is listen to them and take action. They do not give a lick about what day next week the president speaks before Congress.</s>JONES: The great date debate came to the first public view through a tweet. At around noon on Wednesday White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer the told hi twitter followers President Obama asked to address a joint session of Congress the following Wednesday, September 7, to lay out his jobs plan. In a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, the president cited the nation's unprecedented economic challenges as he called on Washington to put politics aside and start making decisions based on what is best for our country. But in Washington, politics are everywhere. A presidential address next Wednesday night, the House's first day back in session, would have conflicted with the Republican presidential debate, something spokesman Jay Carney called a coincidence during Wednesdays' briefing.</s>CARNEY: There are factors that go into scheduling a speech before Congress, a joint session speech. And again, you can't -- you can never find a perfect time.</s>JONES: By 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, "Politico" and NBC News announced the debate would not be postponed. Just after 4:00 p.m., Speaker Boehner responded to the White House's request with one of his own, asking that the president's speech be pushed to Thursday the 8th, to ensure there would be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that may detract from the address.</s>JONES: Let's bring it up to speed, Wolf. A little after 9:00 p.m. last night the press secretary here at the White House put out a statement saying the president had agreed to speak on Thursday. Now, that just happens to be the same day as the NFL season opener. It's the Saints versus the Packers. One thing that Jay Carney told us in today's briefing, the president's speech will be completed before kickoff. Last thing I asked Jay Carney, what was the president's reaction to all of this discussion about the speech timing? He said he spent a lot of time this morning with the president, and the subject never came up. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Athena, thanks very much. Let's dig deeper with our Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. She's the anchor of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." I guess the bottom-line question is did the White House deliberately want to poke their fingers in the eyes of the Republicans who for months had that debate scheduled over at the Reagan library.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is hard to believe that not a soul in that White House who knew that the president, for who a month said he was going to have a jobs speech, so they had a month to look at the days and say where -- it's just hard to believe that not a single person in that White House knew there was going to be a Republican debate that night.</s>BLITZER: Isn't that why there's staff members on the White House team and in the House and Senate, so they work this kind of stuff out? Behind the scenes before letters are exchanged?</s>CROWLEY: Yes, exactly. But having said that, listening to Jay Carney, I totally agree, I don't think anybody out there cares what night the president talks, that the issues override this, although I love they now say don't worry, we'll be done before the football game. Setting that aside, the fact is the net result of this is to have everyone outside this beltway rolling their eyes, thinking, are you kidding me? These people can't agree. Let's forget who did what to whom and who was trying to outflank the other one politically, this -- nobody comes out a winner on this stupid thing.</s>BLITZER: Because it seems to be the burden is on the White House to get it right, as opposed to Congress. Congress an equal branch, a legislative branch of government, an executive branch of government, they're inviting the president to come up to Capitol Hill. Shouldn't the White House defer to Congress and Congress says no, and the Republicans the majority in the House. Did Boehner do anything wrong in this particular case?</s>CROWLEY: Listen, I don't think we're a matter of right or wrong. He said --</s>BLITZER: Did he snub the president?</s>CROWLEY: Listen, if you are a Republican at this point, you think the president deliberately tried to override and make himself look presidential on a night when he knew Republicans would probably be firing at one another.</s>BLITZER: But in the end he sort of looks weak.</s>CROWLEY: Because he had to cave. This is a fight the White House did not need to have.</s>BLITZER: That's why the people who worked for the president in this particular case seem to have failed him.</s>CROWLEY: Or they meant to do it. Either some bad advice, or they actually meant to do it. My guess is it really did somehow get overlooked, although that's hard to believe, because this debate has been scheduled for so long. But in the end, if you're a Republican, you think the president you know is wrong, if you're a Democrat, you think the Republicans are wrong, except for James Carville. He was saying, you know, this is bad of them to try to do this on the night of the Republican debate. But having said that, I do think Washington itself, as we see those numbers go lower and lower and lower, loses on all of this.</s>BLITZER: One of the reasons why. Candy, thanks very much. Let's bring in Jack Cafferty with "The Cafferty File." Jack?</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Folly is an understatement. Heading into an election year, President Obama has some issues, and they start very close to home. Top black leaders are criticizing the president, saying he hasn't focused enough on the problems that are devastating the African-American community, things like poverty, civil rights, and jobs. The unemployment rate among blacks almost 16 percent, for young African-Americans, almost 40 percent. Nationally unemployment is holding a shade over 9 percent. The Congressional Black Caucus recently challenged President Obama in a series of town halls. Leaders say they don't know what his jobs plan is for the black community. Here's the bottom line -- if President Obama wants a second term, he must get blacks to come out in record numbers like they did in 2008, especially in states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia. African-Americans are going to vote for President Obama overwhelmingly, but the question will be how high will the turnout be? And that's critical. And it's not just blacks. The president is losing support among another key Democratic voting bloc, women. A new Gallup poll shows his approval rating among women has dropped to just 41 percent, a 30- point decline from the 71 percent that it stood at when he first took office. Overall a recent CNN poll shows one in four Democrats think the party ought to nominate somebody else other than President Obama in 2012. Two thirds of all Americans give him a thumbs-down on the economy. That's the nation's top issue. Like I said, saying the president has some issues is a big understatement. Here's the question. How much trouble is the President Obama in, do you think? Go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile, post a comment on my blog or go to our post on the Facebook page. The only good news is the Republicans look like they've been auditioning candidates at Ringling Brothers. So unless they find somebody other than that collections of souls that they have parading around there so far, with the exception of maybe of Ron Paul, who I think doesn't get elected again, maybe the best friend Obama has is the Republicans.</s>BLITZER: Jack Cafferty, with "The Cafferty File." Thank you. Misery on different ends of the country, fire in the west, flooding in the east. Stand by, we're having live reports from both disaster zones. And a new message apparently from Moammar Gadhafi telling his supporters not to be cowards. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.