According to a tweet from the Associated Press (and a spate of snarky follow-up tweets from conservative pundits), the president announced today that the United States has officially asked Iran to return a downed U.S. surveillance drone.

Iranian officials said just yesterday they have absolutely no intention to return the drone — but I’m sure it’s a different story now that the president has asked nicely for it. As S.E. Cupp tweeted, “Obama on the wayward drone: We’ve asked for it back. I for one feel good about its prompt return.” Yes, yes: No doubt the Iranians will get right on that. Meantime, they’ve already mined it for most of the data they wanted.

Not sure what the president’s line of thinking is on this. He obviously didn’t react to the news of the downed drone quickly enough to reassure anxious Americans. Making the request now just highlights his ineffectuality on this. It would appear that Rick Perry was right at the debate Saturday, when he said the president chose the worst possible response to the news that Iran had a U.S. drone in its possession. As Perry put it, “This president is the problem.”

Update: Here’s the president’s infamous call for Iranian cooperation. “We’ll see how the Iranians respond,” he says. Don’t hold your breath.