Well this is certainly a switch from a few days ago, isn't it? Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner ran on a campaign to create jobs for Americans. He promised that would be the focus of the House's agenda for the next two years. He has not, of course, done anything to create jobs yet. Where are the jobs? No one knows.
However, when the president decided to stop defending DOMA, Boehner was furious that attention was being given to a "controversial issue" rather than jobs:
‘While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the President will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation,’ said spokesman Brendan Buck."
He's been so concerned about jobs, in fact, that he's spent the first few months of his speakership on curtailing women's health issues (though the jury's still out on whether his wife or several girlfriends approve of that strategy.) So, now he's apparently decided that focusing on marriage was in fact the right idea.
“I’d be very surprised if the House didn’t decide that they were going to defend the law," Boehner said on "The Brody File" of the Christian Broadcasting Network.
I'm wondering why now is the appropriate time to deal with this issue, myself. Aren't jobless people suffering? Why is the House of Representatives going to worry about marriage (well, obviously just other people's) and women's bodies (well, obviously just other people's) rather than jobs and economic growth? This is just a stunning reversal of rhetoric in just the past few days.
It's almost as if he was lying.
In another bizarre twist, Boehner himself completely dismantles GOP attacks on the president, from Gingrich to Beck to Ron Paul:
"It’s happened before where administrations have decided they weren’t going to go out and vigorously defend a law that Congress passed, but I really am disappointed in the president in his actions," Boehner said. "But if the president won’t lead, if the president won’t defend DOMA, then you’ll see the House of Representatives defend our actions in passing a bill that frankly passed overwhelmingly.”
Er, what? I thought the talking point was that it's an outrageous usurpation of power and that the president is trying to make himself a dictator and create the "rule of Obama" rather than the rule of law. I thought he was refusing to enforce this law because he doesn't like it. But now I'm not so sure. Now Boehner says it's not a big deal, happens all the time.
It's almost as if all their criticisms on this issue are completely misguided. Wait, scratch that 'almost'.