So, the whole deal was that Obama and the Senate Dems _had_ to compromise with Boehner and he was hemmed in by the "young turks" and other uber conservative members of the house? Right?
But the final debt bill passed with many of them voting against it anyway. Many dems voted for it, I guess, out of a fear of what happened in 2008 when the house rejected the TARP and the markets fell like 700 points in a day. They did not want to get painted as irresponsible.
This helpful tool shows that even if ALL the tea party endorsed reps voted for it, it still would not have passed.
The total R yes votes was 174. The Tea Party no votes is 34. 174+34=208. Not enough.
The bill could not have passed without house dems voting for it in large numbers. And they only did that to save the economy. Meanwhile, Obama, master negotiator, gave away almost everything in a fool's quest to get those very tea party votes that DID NOT MATTER.
So, a debt deal that reeks of Tea Party priorities was passed without their total support. But, really, the core of the debt deal is about the super-conservative, Norquistian mania to destroy government. Seems like that won more than any populist anger. And it did so by letting the Tea Party extremists drive the debate despite their tepid support for the final bill.
Obama should have been trying to negotiate with the non-Tea Party Republicans.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I agree with you, Jordi. But by the same token, I think Boehner should have realized earlier that he needed to be negotiating with the Dems and not with his own Tea Party members who were never going to sign on. If he'd done so, the whole thing might have been over with sooner. Basically, the lesson here is no one (D or R) should try to negotiate with the Tea Partiers, because (a) they're not needed, and (b) they don't negotiate.
SOme guy named Draper was on Fresh Air this week discussing the inner workings of the House and the R's especially.
Your comment makes sense if we assume Boehner wanted a bipartisan deal. What he is more worried about, I think, is loosing his speakership. And a revolt of TPers could do it.
Post a Comment