Engaged, grown-up president to spend day campaigning

In my previous post I made fun of Obama's substitution of eleventh hour meetings for actual leadership on the budget issue. Yesterday, trying to sound tough and engaged, he threatened to host another meeting today:

“If that issue does not get resolved and we don’t start seeing progress, I want a meeting again tomorrow here at the White House,” Obama added. “And if that doesn’t work, we’ll invite them again the day after that.”

and:

If they can’t sort it out then, I want them back here tomorrow. 

But the real punch line is this: he won't even be home today. Instead, he'll be out campaigning in Philadelphia and New York, pushing green energy and attending a gala with Al Sharpton.

So much for the president being too busy to campaign:

“President Obama is one person. Plus, he has got a job. We’re paying him to do a job, so we can’t say, ‘hey, can you just take some time off to get us all energized?’ We have to figure it out.”

Maybe he'd pay attention if we threatened to turn off his Blackberry.

H/t: Laura Ingraham

Update: Linked by Mark Steyn on the Corner -- thanks!

***

Along those lines, husband Pundit via email:

WashingtonPost:

Growing irked by the prolonged negotiations, Obama demanded that the congressional leaders “act like grown-ups.”

On Tuesday, Obama and congressional leaders talked for 80 minutes in the West Wing, but remained billions of dollars apart and at odds over where to find savings.

Perhaps they should have had some breakout sessions. Less boring for the CinC.

“If they can’t sort it out, then I want them back here tomorrow. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll invite them again the day after that,” Obama told reporters in a rare appearance in the press room.

Not that he will be around...

President Obama is scheduled to leave Washington around noon for a town hall on energy in the Philadelphia area.

Associated Press:

Obama took his most forceful steps yet in trying to prod the stalled talks. He called the White House meeting, rejected a Republican proposal for an interim bill pairing additional spending cuts with a one-week plan to keep the government open, and then announced that Boehner and Reid would meet later in the day.

Forceful!

Heh.

Linked at MichelleMalkin.com. Thanks!
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