MICHAEL BARONE: Obama Speech Fiasco Shows “Audacity Of Weakness.”

I can’t remember a more stunning rebuke of a president by a congressional leader than Speaker John Boehner’s refusal to agree to Barack Obama’s demand — er, request — that he summon a joint session of Congress to hear the president’s latest speech on the economy at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Obama’s request was regarded as a clever move by some wise guys in the left blogosphere since that was the exact time of a long-scheduled Republican presidential candidate debate at the Reagan Library. Take that, you guys!

But Boehner smoothly responded that, with Congress reconvening late that afternoon, the security sweep necessary for a presidential visit would be impossible, and invited the president to speak on Thursday. White House officials quickly agreed, scheduling the speech at 7 p.m. Eastern to avoid overlap with the first game of the National Football League season.

Not such a big deal, some people are saying. I disagree. I think it illustrates several of the weaknesses of this presidency.

Which Barone then spells out.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

If Obama is angry that Congress didn’t defer to him, isn’t it a problem of his own making? He’s established a pattern of deferring to Congress. First, he deferred to Congress to come up with his $1 trillion stimulus package. Then he outsourced Obamacare to Congress. Lastly, he fiddled while Congress came up on the debt ceiling “crisis” without him. Why would he now expect Congress to answer his beck and call? His entire presidency has been devoted to the notion that we are in another “Gilded Age” where Congress is the predominant federal power, coupled with a weak executive.

Interesting point.