Is John Boehner in over his head?

This. Lord knows he's an easy target, but as FHB points out, if someone else were in charge, things might be at more of a standstill than we are now.

 

There are probably only a handful of politicians in either party right now who are not in way over their heads...

 

I actually wish the GOPers would put one of the obstinate ones in charge sted of patsy Boehner. Then the people who voted the GOPs into the majority could see what they really voted for.

 

I assumed when the Senate deal was announce it was a done deal - the understanding of the Capitol press was that Boehner told McConnell to broker the deal, so when Reid announced it, it was assumed the thing was done.
Now Boehner is saying he wants a longer deal...

 

"Hey, ya fucked up, you trusted us!!"

 

Whether Boehner is in over his head or not is almost besides the point.

Remember the GOP's mantra going back to Reagan - government is the problem, not the solution. If Congress doesn't get anything done - especially when that anything includes things not of benefit to the wealthy, Christian Right and Military (the GOP's base) - it simply reinforces the GOP's argument that government is the problem. So what incentive does it have to do anything?

Read Bobby Jindal's book "Leadership in Crisis" - he says that Congress should be in session even less than it already is because whenever it is in session, things get screwed up.

George Washington himself could be leading the Republicans in the House and it wouldn't make much of a difference.

 

House GOP extremists have painted themselves into a corner on this. They're going to spend 2012 explaining why they favor the rich over the middle class during an election that is going to turn into a referendum on the survival of the middle class.

People are just beginning to realize (thank you OWS movement) that the economy won't fire on all cylinders again until the middle class has money to spend. The wealthy can be happy that they've enriched themselves by draining the lifeblood out of the economy -- squeezing wages and cutting jobs at every turn in the name of corporate profits and stock prices.

Meantime, Mitt Romney is still making millions from his departure deal with turnaround behemoth Bain Capital, which has made an art-form of cutting companies to bare bones and flipping them.

 

Boehner was on MTP yesterday complaining that the deal was a case of "kicking the can two months down the road."

Of course, he's right. Too bad his party wants to defend millionaires by breaking the backs of the middle class, resulting in no year-long, or longer, deal that benefits America's working families. It's a deal he told Reid he would support...now, he doesn't.

This morning, he's about as powerful as Kim Jung Il. And nearly as weird.

 

Republicans to the middle, lower class: Drop dead.

The rich guys tax breaks must be preserved at all costs. Screw the rest of you.

 

More than that, they can't allow any sort of deal that looks like even some kind of partial qualified victory for the M.N.

In addition, with some faint signs of some kind of economic recovery starting to appear, they have to stomp that down with authority.

Payroll hiring falling, economy shrinking, UE benefits cut off for people already near or below the poverty line -- it's Springtime in Teabag America!! Just remember, Everything Is The M.N.'s Fault!!!

 

My faith in Obama taking advantage of this political manna from heaven is absolute zero.

 

Exactly. He'll cave in to the GOP and leave himself in position to be blamed for the fallout.