Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Saturday the U.S. would delay a report to Congress on the currency policies of major trading partners, including China, citing a spate of high-level meetings between China and the U.S. The meetings, he said, "are the best avenue for advancing U.S. interests at this time."

In a carefully worded and direct statement, Mr. Geithner said the Asian giant was relying on "currency intervention" and must move to a "more market-oriented exchange rate."

How hypocritical is this? The Obama administration, presiding over a nation founded on the market system, routinely disdains market solutions to domestic issues, such as costly health insurance premiums, but wants to foist markets on China.

Lecturing China is the right thing to do in this case. The administration could solve the hypocrisy problem by applying the market system to a wide range of issues at home. One thing it could do is tell its Democrat friends in Congress to stop demonizing AT&T and other corporations for publicly revealing that they are writing off their additional costs brought about by Obamacare.

This administration and its allies have a breathtaking tendency to say one thing and do another.