It was the latest expression of the Boehner doctrine, a playbook for governing the ungovernable. Stripped of earmarking grease, reluctant to rule by fiat, and with a conference that fears only its right flank, Boehner has long since realized he must be bloodied first before he can steer the country to safety. The process, ugly and messy and infuriating, ultimately works. The strategy of accommodation has repeatedly brought Congress to the brink of a dangerous deadline, but never truly over the cliff. Only once Boehner has placated his base can he step aside and allow Senate leaders to take over the work of governing. Within an hour of the news, Senate majority leader Harry Reid and his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell resumed negotiations that had been held up for the House vote. This was the outcome President Barack Obama, who has sat across the table from Boehner, has come to expect. “There have been repeated situations where we have agreements, then he goes back, and it turns out that he can’t control his caucus,” Obama said Tuesday in an interview with ABC News. “So, the challenge here is, ‘Can you deliver on agreements that are made? Are you able to come up with sensible bipartisan compromises and deliver on them?’” Despite the aborted coup that momentarily threatened Boehner’s re-election as Speaker in January, House hard-liners have described the past few months as Boehner’s finest. And why not? He gives them every opportunity to take the stands they need to secure re-election, while ultimately cushioning them from the consequences of economic catastrophe. Moreover, there are few credible candidates waiting in the wings — the threat posed by the ambitious majority leader Eric Cantor, which hung over the 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations, has receded — and even fewer who would actually want the job. Now the focus shifts back to the Senate, where Reid and McConnell are expected to work swiftly to hammer out a deal that the House will need to swallow. Not that they are happy about it. Surveying the wreckage, a top House GOP aide took stock of the defeat Tuesday night and declared, “This is a clusterf—.” But in some weird way, it might just work.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 05:15:33 +0000
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