Could Obama's blowoff of Scalia's funeral really be as petulant and partisan as it appears?

I didn't jump on this yesterday, in part because I figured there had to be more to it than just Obama being a partisan jerk. Not that I think for a second he wasn't dripping with disdain for the Justice Scalia. I'm sure he was. But I always figured Obama for a talented enough politician to at least understand there are times to operate in the head of state mode and put the party thing aside - and clearly he would recognize the funeral of a sitting Supreme Court Justice as one of those times. Granted, he blew off Margaret Thatcher's funeral - and yes, that was unconscionable given the importance of her relationship to this nation - but at least you could sort of explain it away in that she was a foreign leader and the logistics of presidential overseas travel are complicated. Not saying I buy the argument, but I could see Obama figuring the media would give him a pass on that one.

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But this? How complicated is it to stop over to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, especially when your own press secretary can't identify any more important plans you had on a Saturday? And yet, he's just flat out not going. We're offered his pop-in to the Supreme Court on Friday as evidence that he's prepared to pay his respects, but does anyone really thing that makes up for blowing off the funeral? I don't get it:

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the Obamas will not attend Scalia’s Saturday funeral at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill, will be present instead. Earnest would not say whether anything was on the president's schedule that prevented him from going to the funeral.

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I know most of you are only too happy to embrace the conclusion that Obama is just being a jerk here, and that does seem like the most likely explanation, but try to play along with me for a second. Does he think he'd be a distraction at the funeral? That never bothered him before, and the more customary choice when a sitting Justice dies is for the sitting president to attend, not stay away out of such concerns. And even if you really do think there's some reason everyone's better off if you don't go, why don't you say what it is? (Or have Earnest say it?) Without even offering so much as a hint that you've got an obligation you can't get out of, you have to understand that you look like you're being a partisan jerk even if you're actually not. Don't you? Rob's take is that this is exactly what it appears to be: Obama is a small and petty man who at this stage can't be bothered with the ceremonial expectations of a head of state, especially if it's to honor someone who was working at cross-purposes with Obama's agenda. For all the Democrats' shrieking about Republican partisanship on the question of a successor nomination, at least that's out of serious philosophical concern over the future direction of the Court. What possible reason could Obama have to pull this crap? Or is this his way of throwing a snit because, as is so often the case, he thinks everything that's happening is all about him?

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