Actually, yes we do.
(Weekly Standard) — The White House briefing room is often known as the place where news goes to die. Reporters try hard to get the press secretary to “make news” — or say something useable for their television/radio/print/web stories of the day. They often fail, in part because the job of the press secretary, in many respects, is to avoid doing exactly what the reporters in the room are trying to get him to do — make news. Every once in a while, though, there is an exchange in the White House briefing room that provides clarity on a major issue of the day. This happened today in an exchange between NBC’s Chuck Todd and White House press secretary Jay Carney.
Todd asked Carney about the White House’s reluctance to release its plan to deal with the national debt and raising the debt ceiling. Carney acknowledged the White House was playing games. “We’re showing a lot of leg,” he said. When Todd pressed for details — “Why not just release it?” — Carney seemed surprised. “You need it written down?”
What a difference two years makes. In the spring of 2009, with Republicans in the minority in the House of Representatives, the White House and its Democratic allies were demanding specifics. The House GOP had to produce an alternative budget, the White House demanded, in order to show that they were serious about governing.