Monday, September 13, 2010

Quixotic - I confess that I don't understand President Obama's new strategy of elevating House minority leader John Boehner as a bete noire. First of all, most Americans don't know who this new enemy is. Second, for those who do know the man, it inevitably leads to headlines like this: "Pelosi took in twice as much lobbyist cash as Boehner."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, what's with President Obama engaging the Minority Leader on matters of policy? Doesn't he know that the Republicans are run by Beck, Palin and Limbaugh?

Bram said...

It's an admission that the House is lost. He is engaging the soon to be Majority Leader and talking past lame duck Pelosi.

wvwv said...

El wrongo. The Republicans are splintering on this issue before our eyes, because the smarter ones know it's a November loser for them. Barry Hussein Obama's just applying a little extra pressure to their windpipes.

Vermont Woodchuck said...

Jesus, wvwv, you really want to stop drinking that stuff.

wvwv said...

Public opinion skews greater than 2-to-1 against the Republicans on this issue. Boehner says the GOP may have to compromise on just passing the middle class tax cuts. But McConnell says he's firm about keeping the high-end tax cuts... but not firm to the point of a filibuster. But other Congressmen are issuing "wait and see/too early to say" quotes. But Ryan says the party must not negotiate down, no way, no how. Everybody's on the same page, yet the effort to get a unanimous party pledge to block legislation fizzled. They'd dearly love to duck the whole thing until November 3, but President Obama isn't going to let them. Even a drowning man like Harry Reid knows he can put the GOP Senators' heads on the chopping block next month, and see which ones are too a-scared of pissing off the Tea Party to move out of the way.

Thanks for your concern, VW, but I'm stone cold sober. How's your red Kool-Aid taste?

Nigel Tufnel said...

Word, wvwv.

Vike, at the risk of being an ingracious guest on your blog I must point out that you're trying too hard to spin everything as clear evidence of how bad the Democrats and Obama are.

It is impossible to pull out of this economic downturn fast enough to avoid the likelihood of a midterm pounding, and the big O knows that. As evidenced in Delaware, the ire is against incumbents, not Democrats.

He also knows we will eventually pull out of this economic downturn, and if that happens soon enough the Republicans can be made to pay dearly for their 'just say no to everything Obama wants, including things that we used to think were great ideas' approach.

It's not about Boehner, it's about shining a light on Republican obstructionism. Newt and his crew could counsel the current generation on the dangers of that, but perhaps they're too distracted worrying that Obama is the Hidden Imam.

Depending on how carried away they get with the temporary mandate they will get in November, look for kinder gentler Republicans who are looking to be part of the solution in time for the next election cycle.