Fascinating interview this on the March 17, 2013 edition of ABC’s “This Week” with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), on two counts. First is the headline, “House Speaker John Boehner says he ‘absolutely’ trusts Obama, trying to bridge differences.” I guess the qualifier is the “trying to bridge differences” part. But I’d really like to hear Boehner define that in his own words. For example, what basis do you have to trust President Obama after he said that the Affordable Care Act would not add one dime to the deficit and to the national debt? It was the president himself who said that he would not sign the Affordable Care Act if it would add a dime to the deficit. That’s just two examples, but there is a laundry list of similar cases where the words are 180 degrees from reality. Just where does this basis of trust come from Mr. Boehner?
Next in the theater-of-the-ridiculous is that Obama and Boehner agree that the country doesn’t have an immediate debt crisis. Boehner says a debt crisis does loom in the years ahead because entitlement programs are not sustainable if they aren’t changed. Once again, I guess it all depends on what the meaning of “immediate” is. The Associated Press apparently doesn’t have a clue, or independent thought on the subject either. They just report what “some conservatives” say. What it means to each of these two is the crisis won’t happen until I’m out of office (if not Speakership) so it may as well not exist. It also means that they, unlike House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, don’t have the balls intestinal fortitude to tackle the problem before it becomes a crisis. When the fix will be more painful. The lack of leadership in both of them is astounding. I am reminded of a line that James Carville said about then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and candidate Obama; ‘if Hillary gave [Obama] one of her balls, they’d both have two.’