Obama made the error that led to congressional gridlock and the partial govt shutdown

October 1, 2013


John Boehner’s Shutdown

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD


By Tuesday morning, the leadership failure of Speaker John Boehner was complete. In encouraging the impossible quest of House Republicans to dismantle health care reform, he pushed the country into a government shutdown that will now begin to take a grievous economic toll.

At any point, Mr. Boehner could have stopped it. Had he put on the floor a simple temporary spending resolution to keep the government open, without the outrageous demands to delay or defund the health reform law, it could easily have passed the House with a strong majority — including with sizable support from Republican members, many of whom are aware of how badly this collapse will damage their party.

But Mr. Boehner refused. He stood in the well of the House and repeated the tired falsehood that the Affordable Care Act was killing jobs. He came up with a series of increasingly ridiculous demands: defund the health law, delay it for a year, stop its requirement that employers pay for contraception, block the medical device tax, delay the individual mandate for a year, strip Congressional employees of their health subsidies. All were instantly rejected by the Senate. “They’ve lost their minds,” Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said of the House Republicans. “They keep trying to do the same thing over and over again.”

Finally, at the last minute, when there was still time to end the charade with a straightforward spending bill, Mr. Boehner made the most absurd demand of all: an immediate conference committee with the Senate. Suddenly, with less than an hour left, he wanted to set up formal negotiations?

For six months, the Senate has been demanding a conference with the House on the 2014 budget — talks that might have prevented the impasse in the first place. But the House leadership has adamantly refused, knowing it would not succeed in getting all the cuts to taxes and spending that it demands. For Mr. Boehner to call for a conference near midnight was the height of hypocrisy.

The consequences of Mr. Boehner’s failure will be immediate: 800,000 government employees thrown out of work, over a million more working without pay, offices that provide important services closed, and programs on which poor people depend — like the Women, Infants and Children nutrition system — cut off. The longer Republicans refuse to approve a rational spending measure, the more federal agencies will be affected and the greater the damage done to an economy still in recovery.

Having let down the public, Republicans will now, inevitably, scramble to save their reputation. They are desperate to make it appear as if President Obama and the Democrats are the ones being intransigent, hoping voters will think that everyone is at fault and simply blame “Washington.” Mr. Boehner even mocked the president on Monday for refusing to negotiate over health reform, as if he actually expected Mr. Obama to join in wrecking a law that will provide health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans under threat of blackmail.

On Tuesday, Republicans came up with another self-serving offer, proposing to open a few government departments whose closures are likely to produce negative news coverage, such as Veterans Affairs and the national parks. Democrats quickly made it clear that only a full reopening of government would suffice, and three of the bills died in the House. More are expected, however.

Earlier in his presidency, Mr. Obama made the catastrophic mistake — in the face of just this sort of extortion — to believe in Mr. Boehner’s willingness to be reasonable. This time, however, the cynical games of the Republicans are not going to work.

The Republicans’ reckless obsession with destroying health reform and with wounding the president has been on full display. And, as the public’s anger grows over this entirely unnecessary crisis, it should be aimed at a party and a speaker that are incapable of governing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/opinion/john-boehners-shutdown.html?src=me&ref=general

 

More from the WaPo

The government shutdown could end today. All it would cost is John Boehner’s speakership.

 

You know, to a certain extent I feel sorry for Boner. He's stuck. The extreme right wing of his party, while definitely a minority of the GOP, has become so organized and well funded that the big threat he and others face is a primary challenge. I'm hoping that the "tea party" faction is discredited after the next election, when I'm looking for the Democratic Party to pick up a lot of seats in the House. Maybe not a majority, but enough seats to actually get the business done that the country requires by joining with the moderate Republicans in that body. We'll see.

 

I'm sorry, have we met? What makes you think you know my stance on all issues? Unlike some on here, I don't just go by what a party tells me to think.

 

The desperation of the right to try and blame the President for the shutdown is palpable but Americans know the truth.

As I said earlier, Republicans wanted the shutdown, fought for it and now, they own it.

 

'error' is not defined by Republicans.

Americans know the truth.

 

Mitch McConnell: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

 

Polls on how Americans feel about the shutdown. Guess what the overwhelming majority says on whom to blame?

 

Man you have more excuses than lush rimbugh.

 

Just in case you missed it.....

"Mitch McConnell: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Care to comment?

 

I see, so lets not blame the the Republicans acting like a spoiled brat crying for not getting their way - crying that they couldn't get the rest of congress to defeat Obamacare, crying that the judicial system - republican controled - would not defeat Obamacare - crying that the electorate - the public, would not defeat Obama care in 2012 - let's blame all that on Obama.

Right, when someone acts badly, it's not their fault, it's someone elses. Hmmmm.

 

Actually Obama does share some blame.

He was foolish to try to come into office and reach across and work with the other side when they had ZERO interest in doing anything with him. They said they would anything to make him a one term president, whatever the costs. And what did Obama do? He compromised on all the prior battles. Compromised and the lesson was that you can use anything to get concessions from Obama.

Now he's tired of being used and abused and the Republicans just think he'll fold like always. So in a way, he is to blame for not being strong and holding his ground in the past.

Problem is for Repubs...Obama doesn't face re-election and now has the nations sympathy (at least the majority of the nation that is sane). He's not going to budge this time. And the Republicans will throw the country into recession if it means it will help them have a 2% chance of defeating Obamacare.

I truly hope the damage from this will result in a new kind of Republican party. But I do not think so. Gerrymandering has secured the tea party a seat at the table - and governing for the next 20 years will be like this.

 

Bigtexxx in desperation mode. Hilarious.

SpaceGhost, right there with Mr Desperation. Obama passed legislation legally with the necessary votes and the Supreme Court ruled it was Constitutional therefore, DICTATOR!!!


:grin:

 

Bull****. Obama bent over backwards to include the Republicans, who were utterly unwilling to work with him at all.

 

I don't see how it is any more Republicans fault than Reid and Obamas. If Obama is beginning his meetings with Congressional leaders with "I will not negotiate on Obamacare," how is it Republicans fault? Are they supposed to just bend over and take it in the rear?