Dear Mr. Boehner,
You are the Speaker of the House of Representatives, its presiding officer, the leader - in every sense of the word - of the whole House. (Someone else is the Leader of the House Republican majority.) And you are second in line of succession to the Presidency of the United States. You hold one of the most important national leadership positions.
You could have brought the bill to extend the payroll tax cut to a vote on the House floor. After all, it was the Senate compromise devised with your urging by your counterparts across the Hill ... and passed by the Senate with huge bipartisan support.
You obviously felt you had a choice between the interests of 160,000,000 working Americans and the 70 or so members of the House Tea Party Caucus ... and you chose the 70.
That, Mr. Speaker, was followership, not leadership.