Obama suggests that Weiner resign

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, in an interview to be aired Tuesday morning, is suggesting that embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner resign.

Though he stopped short of directly urging the Forest Hills Democrat to quit in the wake of a sexting scandal, Obama said in an NBC "Today Show" taping, "I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign. Because public service is exactly that, it's a service to the public."

"When you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can't serve as effectively as you need to at a time when people are worrying about jobs, and their mortgages, and paying the bills, then you probably should step down," Obama explained.

That new pressure on Weiner from the White House followed Obama's first comments Monday on Weiner's pattern of sending lewd texts and salacious photos of himself to women followers via online social media.

"The president feels, we feel at the White House that this is a distraction," said White House spokesman Jay Carney aboard Air Force One as Obama flew to North Carolina. "Obviously as Congressman Weiner has said himself, the behavior was inappropriate; the dishonesty was inappropriate."

Carney said whether Weiner continues as congressman from the Queens and Brooklyn district he's represented since 1999 is a question that Congress, its leaders and Weiner himself must address.

Weiner did not return to work Monday with other House members after a weeklong recess. Spokeswoman Risa Heller has said he is on a short leave of absence seeking professional evaluation and treatment in an undisclosed location.

Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee began a preliminary investigation into his activities, as requested by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), The Associated Press reported, citing unnamed House leaders. And Monday evening, the House, by unanimous consent, approved a two-week leave for Weiner.

Many here and in New York are awaiting Weiner's decision on whether to heed the orchestrated demand by three House Democratic leaders on Saturday to quit.

Weiner has told senior Democratic leaders he will not decide until his wife, Huma Abedin, returns from a diplomatic trip with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.