Despite one's loathing of Rahm Emanuel, I am fairly certain he would not have allowed Obama to make such a rookie mistake. He would have known when Congress was coming back to town and would have made the request in a timely manner for a day of his choosing. Not this Wednesday, which won't work, but probably moved it off to next week.
Obama has burned through all the people that know how Washington works (despite not knowing how the world works) and now he is down to a bunch of community organizers, union hacks, and academics.
51: Perfect analysis.