Boehner does not have a majority of the House behind him. It's a simple, arithmetic truth. But what does that tell us about the Republican Speaker with whom Senate Democrats and the White House have been negotiating? He's played all this time, asking for trillions in cuts that dismayed Democrats, fighting off new revenue, on a very weak hand. And he was on the verge of getting much of what he wanted by bluffing.
We now know that Boehner is not the head of a majority party in the House, but a partner in a coalition government with the Tea Party. And the junior partners declined to support a cornerstone of his political strategy. Boehner wants to govern, midwife a few big pieces of legislation, and build a legacy. That involves cutting spending when possible and yes, raising the debt ceiling as necessary. But we now know he cannot deliver.
At this point, the leader of the Republicans in Congress might be forgiven for judging himself closer to the Democrats than to his own base.
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