Boehner’s power outage is dimming Obama’s option as well
Boehner’s inability to get his own Republican conference to line up behind him not only increases doubts about him remaining speaker in the new Congress; it also raises a more immediate question for President Obama: Who in the House can he negotiate with in the effort to avoid the large automatic tax increases and spending cuts that will occur in less than two weeks without an agreement? …
Boehner could turn to House Democratic leader Pelosi and agree on a proposal that could pass the House with Democratic votes and get through the Senate. But that obviously wouldn’t help him with his hard-liners in his effort to remain speaker. …
It might seem to make little sense for the president to reopen negotiations with Boehner at this point, since the speaker couldn’t even wangle enough Republican votes for his own proposal. If Obama and Boehner do resume talks, it might be with the understanding that whatever Boehner takes back to Congress may ultimately have more Democratic than Republican support. And that opens a range of issues for Boehner.
Blowback
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Get him drunk and lock him up for a month! Good grief!
OldEnglish on December 22, 2012 at 12:07 AM
Bronco Bama can negotiate with mushroom Santa.
tommy71 on December 22, 2012 at 12:13 AM
“We don’t have a plan but we do not like yours” is the Democratic strategy.
Grunt on December 22, 2012 at 12:17 AM
Once again assuming that Obama actually wants to negotiate and come to an agreement.
supernova on December 22, 2012 at 12:19 AM
Why is Boehner’s Speakership even an issue?
Daemonocracy on December 22, 2012 at 12:20 AM
May it be so!!!
Schadenfreude on December 22, 2012 at 12:39 AM
The leader may have been saved by his recalcitrant followers. The election showed that the American people have lost their common sense. You can’t have all you want without paying for it, even if you have a sugar daddy. The sugar daddy may turn out to be another Bernie Madoff. $16,000,000,000,000 in debt is not payable by raising taxes. That’s a sucker’s bet.
When the creditors show up to repossess their security, they’re going to turn out to be suckers as well, since most of the debt is unsecured.
We’re going to have to cut spending whether we like it or not, and running up the debt even with higher taxes isn’t going to make the crash any softer. Maybe we should start studying what life was like during the Depression.
flataffect on December 22, 2012 at 12:55 AM
Obama’s keeping Boehner alive like one of those insect parasite zombies (Emerald Jewel Wasp?) to do his bidding. It doesn’t end well for the host.
Keep in mind, Boehner is – for about 85% of the public – the “Face of the GOP/conservatism”.
What a catastrophe.
aquaviva on December 22, 2012 at 12:57 AM
ROFLMAO. When in hell did the Dog-Eater ever actually “negotiate” anything with anyone? The Indonesian doesn’t negotiate. He issues dictats, just as he learned growing up in Indonesia as a muslim slimeball. His own budgets have gotten a grand total of ZERO votes. ZERO.
Anyone who thinks the Indonesian has ever done anything in good faith is a friggin idiot who’s too dumb to speak in public. Barky is a despicable, lying scum who is about as American as Putin or Achmadinejad. There’s never any point even trying to talk to Barky (who locked all Republicans out of everything for the first two years, never even bothering to talk to them as a piece of theater). He finally relented and allowed the “talk as theater” option (which GOP dullards stupidly took him up on) with that asinine zombie re-animation summit for his six times dead health scare. As anyone with a brain could have predicted, he ignored everything said at that summit, acted like the POS he is, and used it for nothing other than to revive ObamaScare (as those of us hated “purists” had warned).
Boner’s impotent idiocy has nothing to do with Barky. Anything having to do with negotiation in the Western sense has nothing to do with Barky, since he’s not Western (and he hates the West with the fire of a thousand burning suns). Boner was just negotiating with himself (Barky had never even laughably offered anything) and he was negotiating with himself far outside of the bounds he was able to – which just shows what a brain-dead shmuck Boner is.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on December 22, 2012 at 1:23 AM
Except the House GOP has a “majority of the majority” rule, which says is the Speaker is GOP, he will not bring a bill to the floor for which he doesn’t have a majority of the GOP caucus’ votes.
Wethal on December 22, 2012 at 6:40 AM
It looks like Obama and his minions are negotiating with themselves as well.
If they raise taxes in this economy it will be a democrat initiative with a few squishy big spending repubs. own it.
Lonetown on December 22, 2012 at 6:43 AM
oh no Obama lost his quisling in the house that gave him cover to pass his crap what will he do now.
unseen on December 22, 2012 at 6:49 AM
For the “own it” crowd; won’t happen. The Dems would not accept anything short of Congress handing over all of their power. Dems know if nothing passes headlines will be, “Republicans refuse to compromise, economy destroyed. Women and children hardest hit.” Even if there was a compromise, the headlines would be, “Republicans agree, rich need to pay more.”
to inform the low info voters, you can point out that Congress has sent up four bills to the Senate, to avoid the fiscal cliff. The Senate is controlled by Democrats, and the Senate has failed to even vote on any of them.
It is Democrats that refuse to compromise.
LincolntheHun on December 22, 2012 at 7:43 AM
that bill would be a fitting christmas present to end conservatives’ annus horribilis.
sesquipedalian on December 22, 2012 at 7:55 AM
For people saying Obama didn’t negotiate. What kind of insane twisted fantasy world do you reside in? Obama moved from tax increases on 250,000 and above to 400,000 and above. He proposed 90% of the Simpson Bowles spending cuts and 60% of the Simpson Bowles tax increases. How is that not compromise?
libfreeordie on December 22, 2012 at 8:39 AM
Lieutenant Colonel Allen Bernard West
eyesky on December 22, 2012 at 8:53 AM
Doh, wrong thread!
Kind of fits though.
eyesky on December 22, 2012 at 8:59 AM