A commentator caught the Obama White House playing public relations word games regarding the president’s so-called “Executive Order” changing immigration law last month.

Author and World Net Daily (WND) senior reporter Jerome R. Corsi reported Dec. 3 that the White House never issued an “order” despite widespread news coverage using the term from President Obama’s Nov. 20 announcement that one was forthcoming.

The president’s legal advisers and many reporters who seek friendly access to the White House have avoided the story to shield the Obama White House from embarrassment and legal and political accountability, according to Corsi, right, a best-selling author with conservative viewpoints.

The situation is worth exploring as an example of the pervasive public relations shenanigans, constitutional brinkmanship, secretive decision-making and lapdog reporting that pervades Washington.

These factors were especially apparent this month because major issues have been crammed into a lame-duck, post-election period. Elected officials are thus avoiding much of the accountability to the public they should face for their performance this congress.

This week the House rapidly approved of the nation’s one trillion dollar budget with an overwhelming, bipartisan majority and jhust ten negative votes. The House cobbled together the bill in secret for the most part. The budget kowtows to bankers, militarists and multi-million-dollar campaign donors. Among those the budget hurts, at least in the short term, are certain pension recipients who had more than one employer during their working years and college students dependent on Pell grants. The Senate considers the bill Wednesday.

The bill does not make a major financial issue out of the president’s immigration initiative. That battle was postponed for another day.

Corsi described his views to me in a meeting Tuesday at the National Press Club after Rush Limbaugh and the Drudge Report had echoed his scoop earlier this week.

We spoke also about how often independent reporters, as in this instance, scoop the “beat reporters” regarding information embarrassing to officials on sensitive topics. For example, Corsi is the author of a bold and insightful new e-book on President Kennedy’s assassination, Who Killed John F. Kennedy?

Regarding the immigration order, my check of White House websites and clippings confirmed the basics of Corsi’s allegation. The White House site contains separately an Obama “memorandum” on immigration Nov. 21,”Modernizing and Streamlining the U.S. Immigrant Visa System for the 21st Century.”