Wednesday, November 07, 2012

An olive branch?

John Boehner, at this point the most powerful Republican in the land, today:
"Mr. President, this is your moment," Boehner told reporters, speaking about the "fiscal cliff" that will hit in January. "We want you to lead."
An olive branch can turn into a lash, depending on how it is deployed. Discuss.

3 comments:

Steve Taylor said...

Maybe Boehner can use the olive branch to give the illusion of having a spine. The House needs to play hardball. Personally I'd like to see Darrell Issa or Michele Bachmann serve as the speaker.

Mr. D said...

Personally I'd like to see Darrell Issa or Michele Bachmann serve as the speaker.

That would be a very different sort of Speaker. I don't see either happening, of course, but I take your point, Steve.

Anonymous said...

Well, there are two ways to go with this situation. The principled one would be for the House to stand up tall, with titanium spine, and pass no tax increases nor increases to the debt limit. This means the crash in federal spending would be their fault, and many would probably be voted out in 2014 because the economy would not have recovered from that sudden change (and isn't likely to recover regardless). The second way is to give Obama the tax hike and spending "cuts" he wants, just as he wants them, saying LOUDLY they are terrible, and let him own the economic fallout. Of course, he can't run again and it doesn't matter how terrible the economy gets. But it DOES matter to us who have to live with it. I know what I would do.

J. Ewing