Flap over Obama’s speech

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Republicans criticized President Barack Obama this week after he asked to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to lay out an economic recovery plan.

You’d be excused if you thought Republicans would welcome the request given they have claimed that he hasn’t offered a plan. Instead, they complained that he was “playing politics” because that is the night of a Republican presidential debate in California. Instead, they suggested he come Thursday, which he accepted, even though it’s the season opener for the NFL.

Pundits accused the White House of either being clumsy by not knowing about the debate, as it claimed, or dumb for trying to speak on the same night as the debate. But either analysis misses the larger issue: By treating the debate as sacrosanct, Republicans have put a partisan event ahead of working on pulling the country out of an economic downturn.

It’s not as if the GOP debate is going to be the last word in determining who will be the party’s standard-bearer. There are nine other Republican debates scheduled before the first state goes to choose a nominee — in nearly five months.

The Republicans have shown themselves to be not only hypocritical but small-minded. Regardless of what they think of the president’s policies, they should at least engage and try to find bipartisan solutions. Instead, they are more interested in partisan posturing. That is not good for anyone.