AP
Turn the clock back a year. It's the middle of the 2012 election and I tell you that President Obama will win a second term commandingly, Republicans will hold the House and Democrats will keep the Senate. On December 31, the Bush tax cuts expire and sequestration takes effect. Soon after that, we'll hit the debt ceiling. President Obama also campaigned on raising taxes for those with incomes over $250,000, refuses to negotiate on the debt ceiling and everyone hates sequestration. Oh, and the Republican party will swing even further to the right in the aftermath of the election with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell facing a primary challenge and Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) becoming leaders of the party. Over the next 12 months, what do you think the course of economic and tax policy will be?
Here would've been my guess:
- Taxes raised for all those with incomes over $250,000
- Capital gains and dividends taxed at a much higher rate, if not as ordinary income
- Estate tax rises back to 40%
- Payroll tax cut extension
- Sequestration is rolled back with limited if any replacement cuts
- Debt ceiling raised without a fight
Here's where we may be at in just a couple of days:
- Taxes raised for individuals with incomes over $400,000 and families over $450,000
- Capital gains and dividends taxed at 20% (rising from 15%)
- Estate tax rises back to 40%
- No payroll tax cut extension
- Sequestration is on the brink of becoming permanent
- Debt ceiling is shaping up to be a major fight
That's a lot of victories for Republicans and it's in large part due to
Of course, not all of this is Boehner's doing. A lot of times, he's gone with the flow and benefited thanks to the credible threats of his right flank to do crazy things. He's had trouble passing a farm bill and immigration reform doesn't have a chance in the House. But nothing was going to happen no matter who was speaker. In addition, despite repeatedly promising Tea Party Republicans that they would take on Obamacare and find a way to stop it, he has convinced them to back off and move to the next battle. Most importantly, he's done so without losing his speakership. I expect he'll do the same with the debt ceiling since Boehner knows we can't breach it. But it's going to be very hard for the President not to negotiate it all. If Boehner extracts any concessions from him, it will be a monumental victory.
So while everyone is saying that John Boehner is irresponsible and has lost control, I think he's a genius. A lot of the time, he's going with the flow of his caucus. But he's also used their craziness as leverage to extract meaningful concession from President Obama and Senate Democrats. At the same time, he's avoided any fiscal disaster while keeping his speakership. I still hold out hope that he's going to find a way around a government shutdown. He may not have an exact plan, but he has a strategy:
- Lie to his caucus, allow them to "take control" and make it seem as if disaster will strike
- Use that desperation to subtly change the conversation to the upcoming disaster and extract concessions from Democrats
- Go back to his caucus, say he got everything he could and convince them to vote to avoid the crisis at the last minute
- Keep his speakership by allowing himself to seem weak and extract some concessions
- Lather, rinse, repeat
It's worked over and over again and allowed Republicans to swing policy to the right in situations where they have zero leverage. Boehner has stopped the base from causing a fiscal crisis and still kept his speakership. Call him irresponsible. Call him crazy. Call him reckless. Call him whatever you want, but John Boehner has been a brilliant speaker for the Republican Party and Democrats have underestimated him for far too long.