The Next Triangulation
In the battle of the debt crisis, one particular bit of triangulation is mostly being overlooked by the media and political pundits. Sure, we know that President Obama is trying his best to pull a Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) out of his hat to survive the 2012 reboot of the presidency. However, the more interesting balancing act to me has been of Speaker of the House John Boehner.
Speaker Boehner’s balancing act between the ridiculous debt reduction proposal of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Tea Party is more precarious than the President’s. More than anything else, the budget, the debt and the economy will be the issue for the 2012 mid-terms. All the President has to do politically is to sound reasonable and wind up somewhere in the middle. Boehner’s job is more volatile because he can either make the GOP the dominant party for the next four years or be the cause of the next chasm in American politics, the splitting of the GOP.
Moderates (RINOS) and Conservatives have been at each others proverbial throat for as long as I have been a member of the GOP which is coming up on twenty years. However, the distrust of the motives of each side were not called into question and certainly there was not a public break in the ranks of partisan loyalty as was reported in this article from Politico between the Republican Study Committee and House Republicans.
While most people are focusing on the President and his balancing act between the left, the far left and everyone else, the main event over the next six months will be if Boehner can tame the lions or if he swan dives into the net.
6 Responses to “The Next Triangulation”
I bet the power and influence of Washington eventually tames and fattens the lions.
Uh, senator Reid and the Tea Party are not affiliated. Furthermore Reid’s proposal had nearly double the cuts as Boehner’s!
Republican party, “dominant”. HA! They will be lucky to get out of this still wearing their SKIN!
The President is not trying to “balance act” anything. He is simply presiding over the debate as the desperate, and, intransient, obstructionist Republican minority destroys itself while trying to gain what it does not have the political clout to gain.
The republican party will gain nothing but the public’s ire for at least the foreseeable future with these shenanigans!
“Republican party, “dominant”. HA! They will be lucky to get out of this still wearing their SKIN!”
Always interesting to see such violent imagery coming from the party that assured us all that civility and non-violence was so important after the Tucson shootings.
Logan Penza-
Well I’ve tried to save them, but they just won’t listen. There is only so much one can do! Martyr myself for a Republican? Spending eternity as a laughing stock is not what I had in mind.
Wish you hadn’t'a done that. You’re not supposed to tell the poster boy what he looks like… But since he brought up the “Tucson shootings” in his reply we’re probably still alright.
“RINOS” Tony is always quick to show his stripes. Defending Boehner?? He is the face of dysfunction in American politics…for the entire world.