So just who is in charge in Barack Obama's White House?
ABC's Jonathan Karl on Tuesday asked White House press secretary why the letter from the White House to Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) inviting him to a meeting with President Obama regarding the Texas border crisis was from Valerie Jarrett. While it's routine for staff to draft such letters for elected officials, matters of such magnitude and to other elected officials of stature are almost always in the name of the principle. The president's spokesman, when asked why the letter was from Jarrett rather than the President, said "Valerie spends a lot of time maintaining relationships with governors around the country" on behalf of the President. (Video below)
This latest revelation was on the heels of Monday's question by Karl as to whether the President writes his own tweets, and if he was even aware of what is being tweeted in his name. The response? The president does not write, nor does he read his own tweets.
The issue of the tweets was about the controversy surrounding a tweet by President Barack Obama last Thursday where he seemed to be saying the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision meant women could not make their own health care decisions:
Throwback to last week when a woman—not her boss—made her own decisions about her health care. #TBT pic.twitter.com/xmQ5e7DFmW
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 3, 2014
Press Secretary Josh Earnest claimed that the tweets were issued by Organizing For America (OFA) independent of the White House. Though the twitter handle is @BarackObama, the White House claims no responsibility or accountability, for the tweets.
However, he did not offer any explanation as to why an "independent" organization can tweet in Barack Obama's name or how this can occur without input and permission from the president's political team, nor did he or anyone else officially associated with the president or the White House express objection to the OFA tweet.
