Did ASU snub President Obama, or just blow an obvious opportunity?

After a day of digging and talking to ASU staff and faculty, it seems this may have been more of a bureaucratic snafu than a political snub. Many have questioned whether such a decision not to award Obama an honorary degree could be racially motivated. ASU is intent to say - after the gaffe - that they will "honor Obama in every way possible."

Dawn Teo kept at this story, which was one of the hottest items yesterday at the Huffington Post, and she discovered a university administration about as jittery as cats in a room full of rocking chairs by the look of it.

Faculty and staff at ASU have taken a lot of heat over this issue. Laurie Chassin co-chairs of the ASU Honorary Degree Committee along with Christine Wilkinson, but she is on sabbatical this year and is not involved in this year's evaluations. She reportedly received death threats, though, after this story hit national news on Thursday. An ASU spokesperson said they started receiving hate-email within minutes after the story was published on Huffington Post. Crow's office was barraged with so many calls that many went straight to voice mail.

Dawn's discovered that when the President accepted the invitation to speak at the ASU commencement, the news was top secret, because Obama's press team wanted to announce the story together with the other commencements at the President would appear - but stopping leaks inside the beltway is difficult to say the least. It seems likely the right hand at ASU didn't know what the left hand was up to...

...but they sure did bungle the opportunity, and the coverage, and end up with a lot of egg on a lot of ASU faces.

Meanwhile, as you'd likely expect, the White House seems utterly unconcerned over the snafu in Arizona. There's been no mention of it I can discover via the White House blog or briefings. Today's message was largely about hope that the anecdotal signs of an economic turn-around might signal the start of broader progress reversing the downward spiral, though it's clear the recovery will not be quick.

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