Plan B Defeat Blows Up Corporate Propaganda About Obama Caving [View all]

[TomCADem]

Before this vote, news outlets bought into Republican talking points about how Plan B was due to Republicans being emboldened by President Obama's willingness to compromise such that they were going to pass a Plan B which would magically give Republicans more leverage in negotiations. Why this was the case, we were never told, but we just had to take the corporate media's word for it. This narrative even appeared in liberal leaning outlets.

Many folks forgot the observation of Paul Krugman that the problem with negotiating with Republicans is not so much that they are tough negotiators, but that they really do not have any core policy ideas. Their think tanks are now dominated by political hacks. Their policies do not make mathematical sense. Cut taxes, increase military spending, cut spending on Medicare, Social Security and Education, then watch the prosperity grow? Thus, when you put an actual policy proposal on the table, they get mad at the fact that reality is not their friend and the fact their talking points can't be translated into a workable, deficit reduction plan.

Well, Boehner's Plan B, which was was designed to be repugnant to Democrats, proved to be repugnant to Republicans as well. The fact of the matter is that Republicans do not have any serious policy ideas, they just have talking points and President Obama, unfortunately, really does not have a choice in having to deal with them.

The truth is that Boehner was chosen as speaker because he represented a reasonable sounding facade for the Republican party. He did not say President Obama was born in Kenya. He did not publicly apologize to oil companies. He did not publicly discuss how Women's bodies shut down during a rape. Yet, this also caused him to lose respect among the crazy fringe of which he is the head.

Maybe the downfall of Boehner is a good thing and maybe we will get a real Republican leader who proudly displays the out of touch craziness that controls the House. Maybe we can finally hold Republicans accountable, rather than blaming President Obama for using some magical leadership quality that gets Republicans to stop being mad at reality.