Ohh how I bemoaned news over the weekend that the Senate and the Administration had waived their opposition to an extension of payroll tax cuts tied to the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Only days earlier, Senator Reid had declared the House bill"dead on arrival"while the President threatened to veto it. As has been the case too often, the Administration and Mr. Reid drew lines in the sand only to fold their hands and approve a watered-down compromise.
But In a rare show of unity, 89 senators voted to pass the bill. Senator Reid promptly recessed the Senate in light of all the bipartisan triangulation that had smoothed the way for passage in the House. Hardly shocking that was too good to be true.
The next morning, Meet the Press hosted spoiler John Boehner, who announced that the GOP caucus didn't support the Senate bill. Washington defaulted to gridlock as the Speaker and Majority Leader Eric "Gepetto" Cantor rambled on with their hollow aphorisms about kicking cans down the road and uncertainty. Senator Reid made clear that he had no intention to call the Senate back from recess to compromise the already-compromised legislation.
Let's be clear. Boehner and Cantor's antics have nothing in the world to do with payroll tax cuts, kicking any cans down the road or that uncertainty myth. It's those damned feral cats running wild in the GOP House caucus- that collection of ideological suicide bombers- who once again have a stranglehold on the People's business.
Yesterday afternoon a pious John Boehner presided over a news conference at which he pulled out out ever convoluted legislative maneuver in his toolbox to thwart a straight up or down vote in the House. Meanwhile the Wolf Blitzers of the world lent legitimacy to the nonsensical notion that there really is something to be negotiated- obviously hoping to lather up CNN's dwindling audience. CNN's cameras cut from one press conference to another, all meticuously parsed by political pundits as if the fate of the western world were hanging in the balance. The drama played on last evening at FOX and MSNBC- and continues today. These sort of manufactured dramas to which the political public has become addicted are the linchpin of network revenue models competing for higher rating points; and, political Washington loves the free air time. Get it?
But it need't be so, at least for the latest showdown. There's nothing for the networks to hype if nobody's watching. The success of Speaker Boehner's self-serving narrative about some compromise of a compromise depends on whether or not he draws an audience. And that's where the President and Senator Reid have an opportunity to play the spoiler. That will require a discipline that does not come naturally to many politicians.
Senator Reid: go home. Today. No press conferences. Just smile and wave as you exit the Capitol to catch your flight to Nevada. Mr. President, ignore your political advisors. For God's sake don't hold another press conference. There's nothing to spin, nothing to negotiate. You've seized the high ground. So have a beer, watch a hoops game and lay low inside the White House. Tomorrow send the First Lady and the girls to Hawaii. Let the White House press office speak for you. It's just business as usual in what should be a slow Holiday season.
Let Messrs. Boehner, Cantor and their playmates wallow in their sandbox. Ignore them. Nobody will listen to them in short order. Eventually they will fold their tents and go home, and you can join the family in Hawaii. The Republicans and their caucus are going to have a lot of explaining to do. They've already been pummeled today by the WSJ, John McCain and former Republican Senator Alan Simpson on MSNBC who said (and you've gotta love this) "this is BS and mush, and the people of America are sick of it."
Caveat to the President and Senator Reid: the only way Boehner and Cantor can elevate their Play-Doh politics to relevancy is if either of you provide them with a foil.
Don't.