Why won't Obama talk with Speaker Boehner?
| WASHINGTON
Why won鈥檛 President Obama just sit down with Republicans and discuss their fiscal differences? That鈥檚 what Speaker of the House John Boehner and the rest of his GOP leadership team asked Tuesday at a morning press conference. Clearly, this was the theme they had agreed to make the central point of their appearance. All avoided answering questions about particular issues or possible procedural moves to return to the question of talking.
鈥淎re we going to sit down and have a conversation, or aren鈥檛 we?鈥� said Speaker Boehner.
Throughout the crisis over the government shutdown and impending debt ceiling problem, Mr. Obama鈥檚 answer to this question has been 鈥渘o." Neither he nor Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) have shown any interest in a back-and-forth over Republican demands that he defund or scale back "Obamacare" as the price of funding the government or raising the debt ceiling.
Following Boehner鈥檚 press conference, Obama called him to reiterate that there will be no talks in the current environment.
鈥淭he President is willing to negotiate with Republicans 鈥� after the threat of government shutdown and default have been removed 鈥� over policies that Republicans think would strengthen the country,鈥� said a readout of the call, released by the White House.
This refusal to engage has taken Republicans by surprise, apparently.听An anonymous member of the House leadership that he thought Democrats would respond with some sort of concession on the Affordable Care Act, such as agreement to repeal its medical device tax.
鈥淚nstead, it鈥檚 no, we鈥檙e not going to negotiate, we鈥檙e not going to negotiate, we鈥檙e not going to negotiate,鈥� this lawmaker told Mr. York. 鈥淲hich means effectively you鈥檙e going to try to humiliate the Speaker in front of his conference. And how effective a negotiating partner do you think he鈥檒l be then? You鈥檙e putting the guy in a position where he鈥檚 got nothing to lose, because you鈥檙e not giving him anything to win.鈥�
Democrats in general have a two-part answer to the question of why the White House hasn鈥檛 engaged with the GOP, as it has in the past.
First, the maximalist nature of the House Republican opening position polarized the situation, in this view. Boehner bowed to the wishes of the tea party wing of his caucus and included a provision defunding Obamacare in a bill to fund the government. Obama will never sign a bill that undermines his signature legislative achievement, yet he鈥檚 heard Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas and other hard-liners describe that as a nonnegotiable demand of their own.
Second, Democrats say they don鈥檛 want to legitimize the weapons of political warfare chosen by the House GOP. Democratic leaders say Republicans have taken hostages 鈥� high-priority continuing resolution and debt ceiling bills 鈥� in an attempt to push unrelated policy demands.听
Democrats might have agreed to strike the medical device tax from Obamacare if that had been the GOP鈥檚 opening position, . But it wasn鈥檛 (see 鈥渕aximalist," above).
The liberals鈥� nightmare is that if they give in this time, the process will repeat itself over and over again.
鈥淭here simply won鈥檛 be any end to the hostage taking,鈥� writes Mr. Drum. 鈥淎s their price for not blowing up the country, there will be an unending succession of short-term CRs and short-term debt limit extensions used as leverage for picking apart Obamacare 鈥� and everything else Democrats care about 鈥� piece by piece.鈥�
Is there a way to thread the needle here? Perhaps, if Republicans will agree to talk about budget and tax issues in discussions that are at least ostensibly decoupled from the shutdown and debt limit.
In the end, the president will have to deal with House Republicans in some way, writes veteran Washington reporter Ron Fournier. Voters want to see it. GOP control of the House gives them power with which Democrats will have to deal in some manner.
Obama鈥檚 鈥減osition against negotiating with Republicans is politically unsustainable,鈥� .
