Is Obama Campaigning for Paul in Iowa?

US president Barack Obama signed the Police State Enabling Act ... er, "National Defense Authorization Act" ... on Friday Saturday (thanks to Mark Laythorpe for catching that).

Um ... why?

Per the White House web site, the bill was presented to the president on December 21.

From that date, he had 10 days, excluding Sundays, to either sign it or "pocket veto" it (since Congress is not in session, not signing it within 10 days is an "automatic" veto; if they were in session, it would become law without his signature if he didn't actively veto it).

I could see him signing it immediately, to get it done and have it over with.

I could also see him waiting the full 10 days to express displeasure, but not displeasure strong enough to warrant a veto.

Instead, he signed it on Friday Saturday -- more than a week after passage but with three two days left before the deadline.

One obvious reason to sign it on Friday Saturday was to insert it into the weekend news cycle. But is there any particular reason why he would want to do that?

My pet theory is that he thinks the news coverage will benefit Ron Paul -- the only Republican candidate whom anyone really believes has a problem with the "indefinite detention" language in the NDAA -- in Tuesday's Iowa GOP caucus, and that he also thinks Paul doing well in Iowa helps Obama himself defeat the eventual Republican nominee next November.