Consumers and businesses were starting to be more optimistic. Third-quarter
economic growth had just been revised upward. Financial markets and employment
were trending up.
Then, instead of continuing negotiations whose reported progress had been
contributing to the cautiously brighter outlook, the speaker of the House
pulled Plan Bonehead.
John Boehner's "Plan B" never made political or economic sense. President
Barack Obama had offered concessions on spending and entitlements. The
president had pared back his demands for tax increases on the wealthy. A deal
that advanced Republican goals was within reach. Then Rep. Boehner
unilaterally jumped off the cliff.
President Obama and Democrats weren't going to jump with him. With a
revolt from extremist House Republicans who wouldn't even support a tax
increase on millionaires, Mr. Boehner's Plan B collapsed Thursday night. Did
he fear that reaching a compromise with President Obama would threaten his
speakership? Who knows. In any case, he's failed his party and, more
important, he's failed the country.
Perhaps no one could herd factions that think like Rep. Allen West. He
told The Washington Post he didn't support the tax increase on millionaires
because it would damage the GOP brand. "If you don't draw a contrast with the
other side, who are you?"
Well, you might be someone who understands the value of political
compromise. Politicians who don't hurt the party "brand." Does Rep. West think
he lost to Patrick Murphy because he wasn't extreme enough? Did the Republican
Party fail to win control of the Senate because Missouri's Todd Akin and
Indiana's Richard Mourdock weren't extreme enough?
After his brainless tactic bombed, Rep. Boehner shut down the House and
sulked that avoiding the fiscal cliff now is the responsibility of President
Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Mr. Boehner's abdication is
pathetic. He should have been back at the White House on Friday morning
working toward a plan that could pass with a combination of Republican and
Democratic votes. Perhaps Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will
step into that role.
If the United States goes off the "fiscal cliff" and the economy relapses
into recession, Americans across the income spectrum will suffer. And it will
have been unnecessary. Rep. Boehner should have learned from then-Democratic
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bungling of the first financial bailout vote in
2008 that do-overs are awful. Lenders gave the Treasury a reprieve after the
GOP's reckless debt-limit stunt in 2011 led to a lone credit downgrade. Going
over the "fiscal cliff," and a looming debt-limit reprise, could inflict
serious, permanent damage.
Some Democrats and Republicans want to plunge in January and try to claw
back in the spring. They are advocating unconscionable risks. President Obama
and senators now are expected to offer a limited interim deal. Helping it pass
the House could cost Rep. Boehner his leadership post. But it would partially
atone for Plan B.
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Distributed by MCT Information Services
