text: House Speaker John Boehner John BoehnerTrump brings his campaign tactics to the White House Lobbyists expect boom times under Trump Last Congress far from ‘do-nothing’ MORE (R-Ohio) asked President Obama to address a joint-session of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 8, when it wouldn't conflict with the Republican presidential debate. 
   
   Wednesday night, the White House accepted the Speaker's offer. 
   
   Citing logistical difficulties, Boehner John BoehnerTrump brings his campaign tactics to the White House Lobbyists expect boom times under Trump Last Congress far from ‘do-nothing’ MORE requested that Obama hold his jobs address, which Obama wants to deliver next Wednesday, one day later. 
   
   The Speaker's letter made no mention of the more obvious conflict: between the president's speech, and a Republican presidential debate scheduled on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. EDT. That debate is the first of the post-Labor Day political season, and the first one in which Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is set to participate. 
   
   The response by Boehner sets up an early showdown between Obama and the Congress just returning from its August recess. 
   
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   Boehner, in a letter responding to Obama's request, said the House wouldn't have enough time to prepare for a speech that evening."As your spokesperson today said, there are considerations about the Congressional calendar that must be made prior to scheduling such an extraordinary event," the Speaker wrote. 
   
   "With the significant amount of time — typically more than three hours — that is required to allow for a security sweep of the House Chamber before receiving a president, it is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks." 
   
   
   
   Boehner noted that the House isn't scheduled to reconvene until 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. 
   
   "As such, on behalf of the bipartisan leadership and membership of both the House and Senate, I respectfully invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, September 8, 2011 in the House Chamber, at a time that works best for your schedule," Boehner said. 
   
   
   
   Press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Wednesday night that Obama had agreed to speak on Thursday Sept. 8 instead of Sept. 7, the day which the president originally requested. 
   
   More from The Hill: 
   
   ♦ Obama address to coincide with GOP debate 
   
   ♦ GOP debate will go on 
   
   ♦ Obama targets GOP for fall offensive 
   
   ♦ Solis: Obama has been focused on jobs 
   
   
   
   Boehner's move appeared to surprise the White House, which according to a senior administration official had cleared the Sept. 7 date and 8 p.m. time of the address with House Republicans before making the formal request. The official said Boehner's office was consulted about the letter before it was made public, and that "no objections/concerns were raised." 
   
   Boehner’s office flatly denied the White House assertion that the Wednesday date was cleared with the Speaker. A Boehner spokesman, Brendan Buck, accused the White House of ignoring “decades, if not centuries” of protocol on such events. 
   
   
   
   "No one in the Speaker's office — not the Speaker, not any staff — signed off on the date the White House announced today,” Buck said in a statement. “Unfortunately we weren’t even asked if that date worked for the House. Shortly before it arrived this morning, we were simply informed that a letter was coming. It’s unfortunate the White House ignored decades — if not centuries — of the protocol of working out a mutually agreeable date and time before making any public announcement.” 
   
   
   
   Meanwhile, the White House downplayed the scheduling conflict with the GOP debate as just that, an innocent coincidence. 
   
   Asked whether the speech was purposefully scheduled the same night as the Republican debate, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, “Of course not.” 
   
   “It is coincidental,” said Carney, who explained that a number of considerations were taken into account when Obama settled on Sept. 7. 
   
   “One debate of many that’s on one channel of many was not enough of a reason” to pick another date, Carney said. 
   
   He added that Obama had chosen to speak directly to Congress in hopes that members had been chastened and softened after hearing from angry constituents over the August break. 
   
   The Republican National Committee (RNC), however, accused the Obama administration of politicking by scheduling the speech simultaneously with the debate. 
   
   RNC Chairman Reince Priebus slammed Obama's request as "a thinly-veiled political ploy" in a statement. "While the White House claims it’s simply a ‘coincidence,’ the American people can see right through that excuse," Priebus said of the timing of the president's request. 
   
   "If the President were serious about putting ‘country before politics,’ as he said in his request to speak to Congress, he wouldn’t be caught in such a thinly-veiled political ploy. This is yet another reminder that the President is out of touch and out of ideas. The only job he seems to care about is his own.” 
   
   
   
   A speech on Thursday would compete with the opening night of the NFL season, traditionally a ratings winner. 
   
   
   
   This year's opener, televised on NBC, features the reigning Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers against the New Orleans Saints. More than 27 million viewers watched last year's NFL opener on NBC. By contrast, 32.1 million people -- on a total of 10 networks -- watched Obama's speech on healthcare to a joint session of Congress shortly after Labor Day in 2009. 
   
   
   
   In a letter to congressional leaders requesting the Sept. 7 slot, the president said he will urge Congress to put aside politics and focus on creating jobs during the speech. 
   
   “As I have traveled across our country this summer and spoken with our fellow Americans, I have heard a consistent message: Washington needs to put aside politics and start making decisions based on what is best for our country and not what is best for each of our parties in order to grow the economy and create jobs,” Obama wrote. “We must answer this call.” 
   
   
   
   According to a Democratic leadership source, the House Democratic leadership was not consulted with respect to Speaker Boehner’s letter requesting a new date for the president’s address. 
   
   This story was first posted at 4:22 p.m. and last updated at 7:50 p.m. 
   
   -- Russell Berman and Sam Youngman contributed. 
   
   ||||| There’s been some anger, particularly in Conservative circles, about President Obama delaying his big jobs speech. Well, today he set a date and now there’s been even more anger, especially in Conservative circles. Why? Because the White House is requesting a joint session of Congress to give it and the date they’ve found where that’s possible is the same as the next GOP presidential debate. Rush Limbaugh is one of those riled up, saying on his radio show today that Obama “is demonstrating exactly what he doesn’t have; class.” 
   
   Limbaugh pointed out that John Boehner has the ability to decline the administration’s request and strongly urged the Speaker to do so. 
   
   “Would he turn down Clinton or Bush? He’d never have to turn them down because they have enough class not to do this, if I may be so blunt. This is intended to disrupt the Republican debate. It’s intended to make Obama look bigger than the Republicans, to look bigger than politics. And this is part of the presidential campaign and the House Republicans are going to have to realize that they’re part of it.” 
   
   However, Limbaugh admitted that it was easy for him to say no because he won’t have to deal with any of the political fall out that Boehner would. He predicted that Obama, his staff, and his followers were all laughing heartily at this. 
   
   In the end of the segment, Limbaugh asked what network the debate was supposed to be on, which network Obama wanted to “screw.” When he was finally told that it was actually MSNBC, he laughed. 
   
   “They won’t mind.” 
   
   Watch the clip below: 
   
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target: – This might not bode well for President Obama's chances of getting Republicans to go along with his jobs plan: The two sides can't even agree on when he should unveil it. In response to Obama's request to address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 7, John Boehner has asked him to postpone the speech one night, reports the Hill. Boehner noted in his letter that the House isn't scheduled to reconvene until 6:30 on the 7th, which would raise "logistical impediments" in getting the chamber ready for a speech 90 minutes later. He did not mention what everyone else has noted: that Obama's speech would conflict with a GOP presidential debate—Rick Perry's first one—at the same time. White House spokesman Jay Carney called the timing a "coincidence," but that didn't stop critics such as Rush Limbaugh from piling on, notes Mediaite. "This is intended to disrupt the Republican debate," he said on his show today. "It’s intended to make Obama look bigger than the Republicans." Another thing Boehner didn't mention: Postponing the speech by one night would pit the president against the NFL's opening night, notes the National Journal.