Just when I thought I was beyond tired of the Blair House story, Think Progress passes along allegations from Margaret Carlson that the place was available when the Obamas petitioned to move in a few days earlier, that they were lied to and told it was booked, and that John Howard’s stay there was a post hoc arrangment to provide cover.
Obviously, if this proves true, it changes much of my previous analysis, which was based on earlier reporting. While it would remain the case that Bush has every right to snub his successor, it would undermine the universal reporting that he had been extraordinarily gracious in helping Obama have the smoothest possible transition. Absent some amazing explanation, it would indeed be petty, as Kevin Drum says, and perhaps even “stupid,” as Matt Yglesias calls it (although I’d stop short of adding “immoral,” aside from lying about it).
