What a riveting spectacle - the slow and horrid march to potential government shutdown. John Boehner looks haggard as he runs between the White House and the Tea Party Caucus. He knows what they are writing about him on Politico - that he is the creature of the Tea Party now. The Speaker has no real power anymore; it's all in the hands of these new, uncompromising hotheads.
At first, the Tea Party Caucus insists that there must be drastic cuts to pay down the deficit - $100 billion, at the very least. "Impossible!" cry the Democrats. So for weeks they bicker, as the shutdown deadline looms closer. But then, we hear rumors of progress. They've agreed to a figure - $33 billion. It's much less than the original 100, but still so much that it angers many Obama supporters. Still, they are making progress.
Suddenly, a new snag. Riders! The Tea Party insists on riders involving social issues. They want to eliminate Planned Parenthood. They want to stop the Federal Government from measuring greenhouse gasses. "No!" cry the Democrats. "These are core principles. We will not budge on these." The deadline for the government shutdown is mere days away.
The President, the Senate Leader, and the Speaker huddle together in the early Spring evenings. But the Speaker explains that he cannot get the Tea Party to budge. They are adamant. They insist on these terms.
There is less than 24 hours now before the government shuts down. The president addresses the nation. He says that he expects an answer from the Republicans by the morning. He believes that there may still be a compromise possible.
But the GOP is not going to compromise. They want the government shut down. It has nothing to do with the deficit. It doesn't even have that much to do with the social issues. It's all politics - Presidential politics. They've calculated the odds. The odds are thatthis shutdown has put Obama in a political nutcracker. It can crush his hopes of re-election next year.
The GOP doesn't even care if they get blamed for the shutdown - they want to hurt Obama that much more. Making him small is the only way they can beat him. Here is the way it works:
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