Apr 09 2011
Boehner’s Amazing Negotiation Wins
Update: Even more liberal gnashing of teeth:
These budget negotiations were a giant win for the Republican Party. President Obama initially cut $40 billion from his own budget proposal — and he got absolutely no credit for that. … The Republicans claimed in February that they wanted $32 billion in cuts from that point on. About a week ago, the president came out an announced that they had given the Republicans another $33 billion in cuts — a billion more than they originally asked for. And still the Republicans wanted more.
Why not? They’re dealing with the world’s worst negotiator, …
Update: If you doubt Boehner did not have a smashing win last night, then go read how demoralized and angry the left is and ask yourself why the left could be whinging so hard if Boehner had not won?
Update: From American Thinker, a good article and a great political cartoon:
Yep, a picture is still worth a thousand words – end update
If you are only fixated on the budget reduction number ($38.5B) that the GOP won over the next 6 months as part of the deal to avert a shutdown, then you probably don’t know the federal government as well as you think. My hat is off to Speaker Boehner – that was one hell of a negotiating feat he pulled off! He wrung more out of Reid and Obama than I ever thought possible. And he exposed how weak a negotiator our young and inexperienced President truly is. Let me explain.
The budget number is pretty good, mainly because it kills programs instead of lowering their budgets for 6 months. so those 6 month numbers expand and grow in the coming years:
The agreement will immediately cut $38.5 billion in federal spending – the largest spending cut in American history in terms of dollars …
The agreement begins to reverse the “stimulus” spending binge that began in 2009 …
The Obama administration has sought increased federal funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – money that could be used to hire additional agents to enforce the administration’s agenda on a variety of issues. This increased funding is denied in the agreement.
Obama even admitted in his speech infrastructure projects were being ‘delayed’ (i.e., de-funded in 2011). Once de-funded, they will not be back any time soon. As fox News reports, this is a lot farther than the Democrats said they would be willing to go when this all started.
But that is just some icing on the cake. There never was a big budget win in this, even at the paltry $100 billion the Tea Party wanted. Not when you are talking a $3.8 trillion budget with a $1.6 trillion deficit. As Karl Rove noted, all the discretionary spending and some of the mandatory is now being borrowed. So the money was never the prize.
However, Boehner must have had an incredible stick in those negotiations, because Reid and Obama agreed to put things to vote in the Senate which everyone deemed impossible just last week. That is the truly amazing part of what Boehner pulled off yesterday (back to the original link):
The agreement reached with Senate Democrats guarantees a Senate debate and vote on legislation that would repeal President Obama’s government takeover of health care in its entirety. The House passed such legislation in January as part of the Pledge to America.
…
The agreement with Senate Democrats guarantees a Senate debate and vote on legislation that would end federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The last thing Reid or Obama want is a vote in the senate on Obamacare (or Planned Parenthood). But now they are going to have to vote and this is huge. If this happens, and 4 of those 23 red-state Democrats up for reelection in 2012 vote against Obamacare, then the President will have to veto a bipartisan bill that lines up with the overall will of the American voters. What could be better than isolating Obama and Obamacare from the will of the people and Congress heading into 2012?
This is gold. Every vote Boehner gets in the Senate is pure PR gold. It set’s the stage for 2012 and has the potential to destroy the false sense of inevitability the Dems have been trying to create around Obamacare. Harry Reid owns the Senate schedule. He was going to simply shut down debate and ride out these next two years as best he could. Without getting on the Senate schedule you could not even get PR points.
So what did Boehner have to beat the Dems with and get this much out of them? My guess is it was that moronic false choice between Planned Parenthood and paying our troops. As I said in numerous previous posts, only a political moron/novice would set up this false choice (see here for examples). Presidents should never forget, they will be fired before they can harm our brave men and women on the front lines of 3 wars and numerous police actions. There is no doubt here at all, unless you are a clueless and insecure liberal. The Commander-In-Chief had come out and said he would veto troop pay. He was checkmated right then and there.
Kay Baily Hutchinson was on last night and dropped a little noticed bomb shell. She had 80 cosponsors on a Senate bill – yes, I said 80 – to fund the DoD for the next 6 months. When combined with the House offer to do the same, Obama was facing a real mess. No stop gap CR, just a bill to pay the troops. The Dems in the Senate were jumping ship. The worst part? The Obama White House was using its CNN puppets to spread the word it was those very Senate Dems that asked to put troop pay in the shutdown mix. I sort of doubt it, given what Senator Hutchinson claimed. This is a clear sign that a bumbling political operation was getting whacked.
The Congress had decided which path they would take in the ridiculous false choice between Planned Parenthood and our troops. They stood with the troops and against the President. That is the only thing that could explain what we saw yesterday.
I am sure Reid told the President he was boxed in, and but good. The government would shutdown as the Congress passed legislation to remove the troops’ pay from the infighting. So what was left for the President? Make concessions and try to regroup. That is why we got that lame PR speech in the WH about people visiting the Washington Monument last night. All the administration could do was cobble together some PR imagery and pretend it was all their idea.
My guess is the left is going apoplectic about now. They lost the stimulus crap. Obamacare and Planned Parenthood will be up for votes in the Senate. And my guess is NPR and the EPA are still on the chopping block for 2012 – now only a short 6 months from today.
What did the Dems get in all this? Nothing.
Boehner, leading only one third of the government involved in legislation and funding, was able to walk all over the Senate and White House. I think there were more allies in the Senate than people realize. Senators Manchin and Webb come to mind.
At a minimum, the GOP has opportunities to establish a distinct and fiscally sound path for America’s future with respect to the Democrat insanity we have seen for the last 2+ years. And that was the real gold mined from the week of heated negotiations. Amazing.
Update: Ezra Klein at WaPo echoes my sentiments – not surprisingly.
Obama bragged about “making the largest annual spending cut in our history.” Harry Reid joined him, repeatedly calling the cuts “historic.” It fell to Boehner to give a clipped, businesslike statement on the deal. If you were just tuning in, you might’ve thought Boehner had been arguing for moderation, while both Obama and Reid sought to cut deeper. You would never have known that Democrats had spent months resisting these “historic” cuts, warning that they’d cost jobs and slow the recovery.
Boehner, of course, could afford to speak plainly. He’d not just won the negotiation but had proven himself in his first major test as speaker of the House. He managed to get more from the Democrats than anyone had expected, …
There is a reason Boehner quietly and happily walked away while Obama and Reid were busy getting lipstick out for their pigs.
Update: Ed Morrissey asks who won the fight:
This looks less like a victory for either side and more of a five-month truce.
As a warm up to the big fights coming, it was a smashing mission rehearsal. Now to the real battle.
Is this budget cut larger than Silent Cal’s 40 percent across the board spending cut – relatively? I understand that today’s government is very, very large comparatively to Silent Cal’s but relatively, are we correct to say that this is the largest one year budget cut ever?
I’m leaning towards Herman Cain more than Trump. Trump’s personal history is going to be attacked by the lefties so I’m uncomfortable with him. Herman Cain does have the business experience.
Some conservatives are claiming that Reid will renege on his agreement on the ObamaCare repeal and the defunding of Planned Parenthood. That’s ok, too as long as the GOP has a message ready to once again box Reid in a corner.
Quite frankly, I also think that the Tea Party have been seeing through the shenanigans of the Dems; thus, making it more difficult for Reid to get away with it.
Take a look at how the public unions tried to control the businesses in Wisconsin. If Prosser’s lead holds, then that adds to the GOP message.
Accountability and virtue are becoming important for our politicians. And virtue is EARNED. At least, that is my hope for the 2012 elections.
BTW, Trump hasn’t EARNED virtue. Neither has Newt.
[…] Boehner’s Amazing Negotiation Wins […]
dhunter, have you noticed the absence of the socialistic massive and major legislation that the Dems were working on in the last two years? All gone in FY2011. The focus are the budget fights and the slow reversal of the Dems’ work.
I just hope that once the GOP has all three houses, then we won’t see a repeat of the runaway GOP performance under Bush. I think that it may be time for the GOP to start pulling out of ME “powder key” region by lifting the ban on the oil drilling as soon as we can.
Oh yeah, kick Immelt and GE out of the government.
If this is a victory, then let us not fail to also congratulate General Custer on his stunning victory at the Little Big Horn.
[…] though I don’t mind doing a slightly more muted victory dance than the ones being done at the Strata-Sphere and Potluck.And now, links.Now that the air is clear, Clyde Middleton wants to see a straight-up […]
re: Bachman’s comments last night – today she said that she “misspoke” and was misunderstood, and everyone in Washington appears to be accepting that, so it’s all forgive and forget on the GOP side.
which is probably as it should be – no point to have an “own goal” after a big win like this.
Bachman’s comments – never happened. That’s the GOP’s story and they’re going to stick to it.
I agree with Morrisey’s take – this a 5 month truce, and everyone should recognize that’s *all* it ever could have been! Which is why Boehner played it perfectly. This isn’t the final goal, it couldn’t have been – this was just the inflection point on the path of spending. And it was achieved.
Another reason this was such a win for Boehner; look at the optics. Democrats fell all over themselves and collapsed into screeching incoherence – they’re killing women! They’re killing children! oh my god – they are killing…. COWBOY POETRY!!!!
Meanwhile, Boehner was always cool, collected, businesslike, serious. No hyperbole, no false claims, just the facts, ma’am.
Who now looks competent to run a government? And who doesn’t? That’s more important than any of the numbers.
[…] From A.J. Strata: “If you doubt Boehner did not have a smashing win last night, then go read how demoralized […]
So now we have numerous conservative pundits that are very unhappy that Boehner didn’t go far enough.
They must really think that Boehner can do that much magic to make it happen?
I read about an email sent by Bachman saying that she and 27 Republicans are planning to vote no. Guess she backtracked or something?
WWS,
Right on the$$. Our speaker won all the way around. He was serious, measured, hard-working and put the emphasis on the Troops and their families-who knows more about sacrifice!
Also, from the Troops, we need to win small battles before we win The War. The deficit is so large we can’t just wave all of it away.
It’s like a slow and steady re-education of America so everyone has a stake and can feel progress when things get tighter. Not unlike someone getting clean from an addiction. That is what the federal deficit is. It will take a while but the rewards are worth the sacrifice.
Misty
Yes, Boehner is crying all the way to the bank and he will have the last laugh down the road. GOOD JOB, SIR!
And he has been brilliant when the pundits asked him about his crying…heh heh heh. “He’s so pitiful…he’s so weak, blah blah blah.” Who’s REALLY crying now,huh? hehehehe
[…] According to strata and others, the outcome of the budget negotiations (to reduce by one percent spending that was recently increased by by thirty percent) was a mighty victory. […]
[…] Boehner’s Amazing Negotiation Wins So what did Boehner have to beat the Dems with and get this much out of them? My guess is it was that moronic false choice between Planned Parenthood and paying our troops. As I said in numerous previous posts, only a political moron/novice would set up this false choice (see here for examples). Presidents should never forget, they will be fired before they can harm our brave men and women on the front lines of 3 wars and numerous police actions. There is no doubt here at all, unless you are a clueless and insecure liberal. The Commander-In-Chief had come out and said he would veto troop pay. He was checkmated right then and there. […]
Yeahhh.
Bachman is so ‘toast”, I think she will have an amazing showing during the primaries.
She will be amongst the best three or four people, in my humble opinion.
this is a little OT for this thread, but not really: I just scanned the morning’s news, and NO ONE is talking about Libya – it is hard to find even an acknowledgement that anything at all is going on there.
This in spite of the fact that Qaddaffi is openly celebrating with his supporters and the rebels are being driven back on all fronts – they are collapsing.
THIS is what losing a war looks like, from the loser’s side. No one wants to talk about it, no one wants to have anything to do with it. The entire issue has become foul smelling garbage, and no one wants to get it on them.
To quote Harry Reid, This War is Lost.
Qaddafi has won – and the rest of us are just supposed to be good little boys and girls and now simply forget that it ever happened.
Obama has just proved to the entire world that the US (as long as he’s in power) will lash out emotionally and then cut and run at the first sign of trouble, betraying anyone who trusts us. No wonder Saudi Arabia is looking to form a new alliance with the Russians and the Chinese.
Of course, if it was Obama’s intention all along to destroy the international reputation of the United States, he couldn’t have planned it better.
Internationally, this country is now a sad, sick, joke. And Obama is responsible.
That is so sad. I also noticed that the Fukishima story has been pushed to page 30….
We all saw this coming back in ’07 and are now feeling vindicated. Feeling vindicated while watching how our own country has been relegated as third world country is pitiful.
I see that AJ has shut off the comments in his new thread so commenting here: I think the good part about Fox News Sunday are the interviews and listening to Brit Hume.
What is Frank Luntz saying about the American reaction to this budget deal?
BTW, Ace of Spades wrote a post agreeing with AJ’s opening post of this thread.
Lurker,
Thanks for reminding me to turn comments back on!
[…] had come out and said he would veto troop pay. He was checkmated right then and there.” The […]
WWS: Libya- victory? defeat?
depends on perspective.
Losers? Obama, definitely, he thought if he gave the OK, that NATO and the UN would fight his fight for him. Wrong.
He thought it would be easy to get Qhadaffi out, wrong.
other loser, the USA reputation, didn’t do what the president said he would do.
Winner? USA security. other than the PAN AM bombing, Qhadaffi has been no security threat to the US. Had Qhadaffi lost, who would replace him? it appears the Jihadists would. That would have definitely been a loss to the USA. So overall, I’d have to say the USA is now ahead in Libya.
As long as obama is in the office, the USA will continue to be the losers in American prosperity.
Lurker, fill us in a little more about the ‘good’ attributes of Cain. I understand he is or was high up in the Fed, not particularly a plus, from my point of view.
I also understand he says he hasn’t looked into what it takes to be eligible to be president (now that is really strange if he thinks he wants the job, you’d think he’d know the constitutional requirements) Some people think this matters, others do not.
If I wanted to be a doctor, I’d check the requirements for the job before I set out to become one.
He is, in my opinion, a newcomer in the political game, just don’t know enough about him. We all know now how electing someone we know absolutely nothing about can work out, don’t we?
Out of curiousity I did a search on Cain. in an article about him on Answers.com it says that he was born in Memphis, Tn and in Georgia. (footnote: most people are only born in one state) All in the same article. Maybe he needs to show his ‘long form birth certificate’ if he actually has one.
This is supposed to be humorous.