COLD AS ICE: HOUSE MINORITY LEADER JOHN BOEHNER
OBSTRUCTIONIST-EXTRAORDINAIRE JOHN BOEHNER is doing everything humanly possible to personally undermine any economic recovery this nation and its anxiety-ridden people are looking to the Obama Administration to facilitate.
The House minority leader – a thorn in the side of political stability on Capitol Hill – has been the clearly-defined catalyst behind the public’s perception of the Republicans as the “Party of No,” as he continues to lead his conservative troops in a unified stand against virtually every fiscal initiative to come out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Boehner — who bears an uncanny resemblance in both appearance and personality to the warden from the “The Shawshank Redemption” — could very well be the coldest, most distant and dispassionate politician this side of former GOP Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Spiro Agnew.
His nauseating daily sound bites depicting Obama spending measures as a one-way ticket to financial Hell disingenuously paints a picture of his party as the more fiscally responsible.
This is completely absurd, given how the Bush Administration, with the full support of a Republican-dominated Congress for the first six years, managed to convert a budget surplus inherited from the Clinton White House into the largest deficit in modern history before the new president took office.
Boehner’s amnesia of political histroy also includes the huge spending programs of the Conservative Republican Reagan Administration throughout the ’80s.
The Ohio congressman insults the collective American intelligence with his attempts to convince us every problem currently facing this country — from the economic crisis to the devaluation of our education system — is the president’s fault.
While a strong bipartisan effort ensued on the Hill this past week to battle the AIG scandal – the first sign of any significant cooperation across the aisle since 9/11 — Boehner was once more running his mouth, faulting the new administration, especially Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner, for the insurance giant’s contractual indiscretion with its executives.
Boehner was well aware that Geitner has been operating with a skeleton staff from day one. He has also around long enough to realize this is not unusual for a new Cabinet member who has been on the job for less than 45 days.
What the House majority leader refuses to own up to is that the agreement signed with AIG in the first place occurred during the latter part of the Bush years. Yet he remains steadfast in accusing the president and Geitner of “missing the boat.”
Then again, how many boats can one board at the same time? The list of inherited calamities this administration has already been attempting to rectify is as long as a line for a new Robert Di Nero movie!
Even political scientists and media analysts generally reserve major judgment on a new administration until at least after its first 100 days, and generally longer. But from the moment Obama was inaugurated, Boehner began ripping apart every move he’s made.
The Ohio Republican couldn’t possibly have already forgotten the major beating his party took lat November — mainly due to its inept, antiquated conservative policies – you know, the ones which in less than eight years turned our economy upside down, while destroying our credibility worldwide.
He has been relentless articulating how his party could again gain ground with the American electorate by moving – yet — even further to the right, a deluded contention of the first order. His sense of reality is microscopic at best!
Boehner fails not only to recognize his party no longer has any power in the House whatsoever, but could only be two seats away from complete extinction in the Senate after the 2010 election (actually one after laid-bakc Minnesota finally certifies Democrat Al Franken as its new junior senator.
Denial – a state of mind traditionally used in psychological terms –is defined as an individual’s subconscious unwillingness to accept and deal with a painful reality about themselves or their life. Yet somehow, the stoned-faced GOP leader has made this dysfunction part of the political lexicon as well, and in record time.
Although considered “the ego’s shock absorber” by mental health professionals, denial always has a way of eventually backfiring, ultimately compounding an already bad situation exponentially. And this is exactly what we are seeing right now with Boehner and his followers.
By refusing to recognize the devastating effects his party’s ideological flaws has had on the nation – not to mention the GOP itself – the “distinguished gentleman” from Ohio is slowly leading his maimed party into oblivion.
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