The White House is pushing back against the growing narrative that Obama is "sitting on the sidelines," as reported by the New York Times yesterday, and letting Congress do all the work.
As John Boehner spent the night trying to wrestle members into place to support his debt ceiling deal, Valerie Jarret reminded reporters yesterday that it was President Obama who was losing sleep over the issue.
"He's getting absolutely no sleep. He's working tirelessly, meeting with his economic team, doing a lot of outreach, exploring all kinds of possibilities for compromise," Jarrett said.
Chief of Staff William Daley told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last night that Obama has issued a secret plan for solving the debt crisis.
From the transcript:
BLITZER: So what you're saying is the president did present a plan to the speaker, John Boehner.
DALEY: Yes.
BLITZER: But - but he didn't...
DALEY: Right.
BLITZER: - make it public.
DALEY: No, because there's... both the speaker and - and the president had agreed and - that these sort of negotiations do not happen in public.
