Boehner plans to leave Washington amid "fiscal cliff" stalemate

Boehner plans to leave Washington amid "fiscal cliff" stalemate Reuters – 29 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner plans to go home to Ohio on Friday, his office said, in a sign that there is no deal in sight to avert the looming "fiscal cliff."

Spokesman Michael Steel added, however, that should President Barack Obama decide he needs to talk or meet with Boehner again, "Ohio has both cell phone service and airports - so ... it won't be a problem."

Steel said Boehner - the top Republican in Congress - will likely return to Washington on Monday.....

Think what the negotiations might look like if we could have Messrs. Ryan and Cantor representing working, taxpaying Americans. Why not use the best we have?

I’m WAITING for a Republican to suggest that we include ALL social programs in a spending reduction aimed to help us live within our means as a nation. I might make some exceptions in Social Security, especially when people have contributed more to the program than they can ever hope to receive in monthly payments after age 65.

And one more suggestion: let’s cut out this business of every legal immigrant getting off the boat and sending for his entire family/village, who then apply for and receive Social Security or whatever other program appeals to them.

It’s good for John Boehner to be leaving town, AS LONG AS he stays away from Washington until Obama has left for his Hawaian vacation.

People need to realize that a President has significantly greater responsibilities, particularly during a looming fiscal crisis, than a Speaker of the House.

John Boehner and his Republican anti-tax-increasing colleagues were elected to represent individual districts, which they’ve been doing by refusing to agree to tax increases.

Obama, on the other hand, was elected to serve the entire country, particularly by averting looming crises. If Obama leaves for his vacation before the fiscal-cliff issue has been resolved, he will be neglecting his responsibilities to the American people.

We know it would not be difficult for Obama to agree to not raise taxes on the wealthy, since when he and the Democrats had full power in Washington during 2009 and ‘10, they did not vote for raising such taxes.

Yet Obama is now willing to allow a fiscal crisis to go forward by refusing to do something — keeping the Bush tax cuts for everyone — that he WAS willing to do for two years when there wasn’t a crisis looming.

At the very least, as Americans watch Obama golfing, swimming and partying in Hawaii for three weeks while all hell is about to break loose here, it will become clear that Obama is not even a competent negotiator much less the messiah he pretends to be, or the fiscal cliff would have been dealt with before he started spending $4 million of taxpayers’ money on his selfish pleasures halfway around the world.

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