The White House didn't realize the expectations for the president's speech they created when they tried to upstage the GOP on their debate night.

Rectifying that little demonstration of incompetence, the president's aides are leaking the news that the upcoming address before a joint session of Congress won't reveal the entire plan the president has to get the economy moving again.

Fox News:

In what could be a way of lowering expectations for next Thursday's big economic speech, aides to President Obama are privately spreading word that he will not present his entire jobs plan in his address to a Joint Session of Congress.

Aides say Thursday's speech will be part of a bigger plan the White House will roll out throughout the fall with the president hitting the road for speeches and town hall appearances. Aides have already confirmed that Obama will be traveling to California, Colorado, and Washington state for one three-day swing later this month that will include economic events as well as some fundraising.

The move could be a way to try and lower the stakes for Thursday's Joint Session appearance, but it could also be an attempt by the administration to show the president is trying to stay all over the economy heading into what will likely be an uphill re-election battle.

"There's no question the president will want to keep returning to jobs," one top aide told Fox News. "I don't want to downplay the speech [next week] -- it's going to be substantial. But the idea that this is the be-all and end-all is wrong."One scenario being discussed by White House aides is the president highlighting individual economic proposals at appearances around the country throughout the fall, just as the Republican presidential candidates are ramping up the sales pitch for their own economic proposals.

One proposal the president may highlight down the road is reorganizing different economic offices of the federal government. While the president himself has shot down a trial balloon about a new "Department of Jobs" being created, aides say an effort to reorganize agencies dealing with trade and commerce to better focus their efforts is still being looked at.

Why, when some presidents get in trouble, do they insist on "reorganizing" the government? In the end, they usually make things worse by creating another department or agency that simply grows the size of government and employs more federal workers.

I think what this downplaying of Obama's speech shows is that they really don't have a plan at all and that repeating banalities on a speaking tour is all they've got. It will no doubt be a "Blame the GOP" tour - about the only thing the president has demonstrated an ability to accomplish.