President Obama has weighed in on the ethics charges against Rep. Charlie Rangel, calling them “very troubling” and not too subtly hinting that it might be time for the veteran congressman to stop fighting and pack it in.

During an interview on the “CBS Evening News” with Katie Couric, Obama stopped short of joining the call from several House Democrats and Rangel’s primary challengers for the congressman to resign, but did say:

“He’s somebody who’s at the end of his career. I’m sure that what he wants is to be able to end his career with dignity. And my hope is that it happens.”

Obama and Rangel haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. In June, the congressman criticized the president over the Iraq War, saying his “lack of an honest explanation is consistent with Bush and Cheney.”

One of Rangel’s primary challengers, Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV told me during a “Capital Tonight” interview that’s airing this evening that he would never “insult” Obama in the way he feels Rangel did.

In other news on the Rangel front, the congressman who headed the ethics subcommittee that accused the Harlem lawmaker of multiple violations of the House rules said efforts were made to negotiate a settlement that would have resulted in a formal reprimand instead of censure or expulsion.

“If we could have reached a settlement we would have recommended that to the full committee,” said Rep. Gene Green, a Texas Democrat. “But that didn’t happen.”

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