House Speaker John Boehner Beats Up On the Democrats

Well Played Sir, Well Played

The Dismal Political Economist had worried that Rep. John Boehner, (R, Oh) and  Speaker of the House of Representatives had been caught in a trap largely of his own making on the debt ceiling votes.  The expectation was the Mr. Boehner had been trapped by making the passing of a Balanced Budget Amendment as a pre-condition the increasing the debt ceiling, and then when that provision was eliminated from any final resolution, Mr. Boehner would find himself being accused of selling out.



Get Used to Being Out of Focus for a Little
Bit Longer Mr. Cantor



In the extreme, it seemed possible that the secret alliance of members who supported removing Mr. Boehner and replacing him with Majority Leader Eric Cantor (no, The Dismal Political Economist does not have any evidence that this secret alliance exists, that’s what makes it a “secret”)  would use that situation to act.  In the end Mr. Boehner’s won over a large group of Republican voters for the so-called compromise and as a result his stature has risen.

Mr. Boehner played the game perfectly.  He agreed to put in the BBA provision, then immediately gave it up in negotiations with the Senate and Mr. Obama.  Then as soon as possible he scheduled for a  vote on the issue.  By voting as quickly as possible, even defying conventional wisdom that the House should wait until the Senate had voted Mr. Boehner never gave his foes any time to act.  A delay of even 24 hours could have been deadly to the Speaker, but apparently he knew this and acted decisively.

As a final statement of triumph, we have this.

“When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the White House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted. I'm pretty happy."

-- House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), in an interview with CBS News, on the bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

Agreed Mr. Speaker, but you know, your victory was a little like Notre Dame’s football team beating South Bend High Junior Varsity.  Not exactly a fair fight, was it?