aberrant85
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The OP is making the mistake of thinking the two overarching issue negotiations can be condensed into Boehner and Obama in a vacuum. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Obama, as always, is agenda driven with odd, not well understood, goals that generally harm Americans. Boehner is taking the position that he is taking because of pressure from his constituents, the American people, a majority of which do not want more debt nor do they want Obamacare.
Because of this, we are seeing an increasing isolation and strange, vindictive reclusiveness of Obama, who is finding that his empty rhetoric is best received with live audiences of naive college students and selected minority groups.
Your rhetorical mistake is filling the vacuum! The CR and debt ceiling are by their nature unconnected with unrelated programs like Obamacare. By insisting on negotiating either while attaching unrelated items, Boehner has added something new to the negotiations, meaning Dems could counter by adding their favorite items into negotiations, and then the two would give and take. That is what Boehner should be prepared for if he continues to demand concessions in a negotiation.
My instinct tells me he would balk at any Democratic demands, which would reveal that he is not dealing in good faith.
Obama Calls John Boehner, Says He Still Won't Negotiate
Call it negotiations, call it compromise. Boehner is calling for it and Obama is standing firm.
Here's the thing, though. If you assume the CR and debt ceiling are neutral ground, basically giving nothing to the Dems or the Repubs they don't already have or both need, then passing clean versions of each equal zero points for Dems and zero for Repubs.
But Boehner wants to negotiate over them. He wants concessions, or let's say 1 point for the Repubs. If he got them, that would give Dems -1 points (not a compromise whatsoever, that's one side taking and the other giving).
So wouldn't true compromise be Boehner getting something, like a medical tax repeal (1 point), and then giving the Dems something, like tax increases (1 point)? That's what a compromise/negotiation really looks like.
So by those standards, does Boehner really want to compromise? Or does he just want stuff for free? Would you be willing to go into negotiations if you knew you had to give something away?
Obamacare is very much connected to the budget and a CR just means Clean Resolution. Obama's offer to negotiate comes down to the house dropping it's conditions with the meaningless promise the president will negotiate with them at a later time. Raising the debt ceiling is just another permission for the dem senate to continue to spend like drunken monkeys.
Dems already got their tax increase.
At this point Boehner wants anything that can manipulate enough people into believing (1) he's worth being Speaker of the House and (2) Republicans deserve a House majority.
at this point who in the GOp wants to be speaker of the house?
Any Tea Party candidate.
at this point who in the GOp wants to be speaker of the house?
imagine louie gohmert or Steve king trying to negotiate with obama and the senate democrats?
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