First, on this Wednesday after election day filled with relief and triumph, thanks to all who added to President Obama's reelection effort, either in spirit or by deed. Your efforts bare out the President's mantra of Forward. Because of you we may get a chance to further the cultural evolution of our species and save our planet. A Romney presidency would have brought us past two critical breaking points: taking global corporate power beyond any healthy variant of capitalism, and leading us past the point of no return in global climate change.
Now, there appears to be a healthy mandate to rectify both of these critical challenges. And the current Republican Party, the worst incarnation in history, is in position to add exactly nothing to this process. But for once, the drive to impede cannot be a goal unto itself. Actual work must be done, or the GOP will be doomed for a generation.
And if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid makes good on his goal of ending the abuse of the filibuster rules, then the House will be the only source of power the GOP has left. But Speaker Boehner won’t be able to strut around knowing that “my way or the highway” is an effective strategy. He’ll have to face facts on several levels:
1) The tea party tide has turned as an effective unified front.
2) If he and the GOP maintain their stonewalling and unyielding policies on the fiscal cliff, women's issues, impeding oversight, global climate change, and denying increases in revenue, then the midterms in two years will see their complete loss of political power when they lose the House.
3) The Republican Party will have to reinvent itself to survive, and Boehner won't be the face of it as a pillar of the old guard.
4) The GOP/Rove strategy of going "all in" with every virulent form of extremism can no longer work. He and the GOP will have to show some temperance and not allow the whacko voices to be the loudest.
5) Actual negotiation will be necessary; because without that the blame for what happens in the economy will rest firmly on the GOP's head like a tombstone
I don't believe Boehner has the character to make these adjustments. I don't see his denial filter shifting one inch. His rhetorical barbs based on lies have been his biggest weapon, and now the rottweiler may have to wear a muzzle. If he is to retain any further political significance, he will have to truly negotiate. He will have to be prepared to give things up. He will have to violate his Norquist pledge. And I don't see the Boehner ego caving on any of that.
So expect that the Boehner era will soon go by way of the dodo, and an unknown face will lead the party forward. Good riddance, John. But take solace in this: there's always another glass of merlot.