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Most people trashing Boehner do not understand the difficult position he is in. They also conveniently forget that Boehner’s House on more than one occaision voted to repeal Obamacare and it all passed the the excellent reform minded Ryan budget and blueprint which would have reformed both the federal income tax code (dropping the top corporate and individual tax rates down to 25%) and entitlements, both Social Security and Medicare.

Fact is Obama is holding most of the cards. He has at least three aces in in has hand:

1) He just won re-election (yes I agree there was massive vote fraud but that doesn’t change anything) and has plenty of political capital at this time.

2) The Dems control the senate.

3) Obama’s biggest ace up his sleeve is the fact the GWB taxcuts have a FATAL FLAW-—set to expire within a decade now coming up in a few short weeks.

This third ace is his biggest luxury. Obama doesn’t give a RAT’s ass if all of the GWB taxcuts expire-—he and most of his fellow RATs NEVER liked the GWB taxcuts to begin with. Obama and the Dems WANT higher taxes and they don’t care if Defense spending takes a big hit either——you don’t have to believe me about this just ask Howard Dean. It’s true.

Obama can do whhatever he wants any time he wants. He CAN take a three week vacation at taxpayer expense to Hawaii. He can visit Martha’s Vineyard, he can go to the Hamptons. He can play golf, shoot hoops, hobnob with Beyonce, JayZ, and Clooney, he can spend time in Hollyweird and Malibu-—all the things he likes to do and sprends most of his time on in any event. It matters not, Obama doesn’t have a care in the world.

ALL of the pressure is on Boehner. Even if Boehner does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (which is what some want) ALL of the GWB taxcuts expire automatically on Jan. 1, 2013. Boehner is under tremendous pressure to preserve as much of the GWB taxrates as possible. Boehener has few cards to play. The only ace Boehner is holding is the debt ceiling. Boehner could say to Obama I will get my troops to raise the debt ceiling and fund Obamacare ONLY if the Dems agree to keep tax rates at their current level. Both sides would also agree to cut defense and entitlement spending as part of the overall package. But keep in mind all of the pressure is on Boehner right now, Obama can do what he wants and bide his time, he is not working under any timelines or deadlines and does not care if we go over the cliff or if the GWB taxcuts expire.

In school we are taught there are three branches of the federal government, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. On a day to day operational level, the three co-equal branches of government are the White House, the House, and the Senate. Since the Dems control two out of three, they have the upper hand. Since they just won an election (fairly or not) they have most of the capital. And the worst part of this whole mess is the structure of the GWB taxcuts designed to expire after a decade. Who’s boneheaded idea was it to make them temporary instead of permanent.

We are in a very weak position. None of our options are good. Elections matter. Instead of trashing Boehner which is easy to do, let’s at least try to understand his weak hand and terrible position. For what it is worth, I think no deal is better than a bad deal. I think no legislation is better than bad legislation. I also think the debt ceiling is Boehner’s ace in the hole if he can play it. Boehner could also prevent Obamacare from ever getting funded, he should play that card as well.

Actually, Boehner has tremendous power. He can go over the cliff. He can refuse to raise the debt ceiling. He can refuse to appropriate for all or various parts of the government. He could shutdown the NLRB, the EPA, the HHS for instance. He won't do any of those things, but he could alter the Federal government and Obama’s rule by refusing to play Obama’s winning game.

Most people trashing Boehner do not understand the difficult position he is in.

I take it you're okay with Boehner purging Conservatives from committee positions then, newb?

ALL of the pressure is on Boehner. Even if Boehner does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (which is what some want) ALL of the GWB taxcuts expire automatically on Jan. 1, 2013. Boehner is under tremendous pressure to preserve as much of the GWB taxrates as possible. Boehener has few cards to play. The only ace Boehner is holding is the debt ceiling.

The so-called pressure is all on Boehner because he is such a chump & a weasel & scared sh_tless of 0dumb0. When the demoRATs were in the minority in both the House & the Senate during the first 6 years of GWB, that did not prevent the demoRATs from effectively styming and blocking GWB & the Repubs virtually at will. As much as I hate Nancy Pelosi, I would trade for her in a heartbeat (if she were Repub) over Boner/Boehner.

All Boehner has to do is 3 things.....

1) Pass the extension of Bush era tax cuts for everyone under $250,000. That way Boehner & the Repubs can rightfully declare that they are not blocking the tax cuts for the middle class.

2) Pass the extension of the tax cuts for those above $250,000... that way the tax cuts for the upper class are not linked to the middle class tax cuts, and we know already that the Senate & 0dumb0 will reject this anyway.

3) Go home for the Christmas recess... Period. Do nothing with extending the debt ceiling by even one penny and let 0dumb0 & the RATS scream & holler about this. As you pointed out in your post, it is the only trump card or ace that Boehner is holding, but he is too scared chicken sh_t to use it. Let the debt ceiling force the spending cuts right now, rather then "reducing the growth" over the next 10 years, which is completely bogus anyway.

Boehner could also prevent Obamacare from ever getting funded, he should play that card as well.

Ask Michele Bachman how bad he wants to defund ACA. The President may hold three aces, but if he can't put money into the pot he loses.