The Speaker of the House is stumbling like a drunk running up the steps of the Capitol. Every misstep, exacerbating the loss of balance and the inevitability of a face-plant, already has onlookers turning away, not wanting to witness a bad ending. Now, I cry at solemn events, even some movies, and I sob at an inspirational story of over-coming all odds, and you should know by now (patriotic music swells), Rep. John Boehner, (sniff, sniff) always (voice cracking) lands on his feet. (engaging full loss of composure, handkerchief and curtain, please.) Call me insensitive but, it matters little to me whether Boehner slams his tan visage into the concrete, or, pivots deftly to a recovery like Fred Astaire smiling all the while for the cameras. The entertainment value of the first 45 days of Boehner’s ungainly Speakership is undeniable.
Rep. Boehner, is most famous for yelling “Hell No, you won’t!”, and “Where are the Jobs?”, and crying, usually during his self-congratulatory reminiscing of his own rise from son of a barkeep to Speaker of the House. It is a remarkable story, if the teller could get through it without needing to borrow the listener’s snot rag. If only Boehner exhibited the same level of empathy for the challenges faced by the American people as he does for his own story.
Boehner’s honeymoon with the American people and perhaps his own party appears waning, if not over. Boehner and the Red Tide that swept into control of the House last November, did so, in part on the promise that they now get it and planned to not repeat the mistakes of the first six years of the “W” administration, when their actions set in motion, or aggravated, the conditions that led to the financial collapse, the resulting staggering unemployment and the necessity of drastic federal spending to avoid an all out Depression. They, led by Boehner, now blame President Obama for all that and promised Jobs would be the top priority. So, as soon as the House went into session in January, the House killed a couple of days symbolically repealing health care and, then, embarked on the most extensive and concerted legislative attack since Roe v Wade, on a woman’s right to privacy in her health care choices, even in cases of rape or where the life of the woman is at risk.
Then, on Tuesday, proving Valentine’s Day was over, Boehner showed federal workers no love, promising elimination of their jobs, when he said, "Over the last two years since President Obama has taken office, the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs…And if some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it…” Boehner did not cite any source for his claim of 200,000 federal jobs. Assuming 200,000 or more, stimulus-funded jobs, which are different from federal jobs, except in the new, nuance-starved America, Boehner’s “…so be it…” comment seemed particularly mean spirited. But I’ll, “take him at his word.”
Once again, the confused, blaming, "I got mine, you get yours" right-wing in this country vents frustration toward the victims of societal problems, instead of at the perpetrators. The logic is Kafkaesque – “If those people hadn’t had jobs, they wouldn’t have lost their jobs.” This is similar to, “If those illegal immigrants hadn’t come over here and taken over the chicken plants, Mr. Pilgrim would have just processed those chickens himself.”
Boehner also had one of those, “I really need a cigarette” moments this past weekend on Meet the Press. The Representative insists he has no role in telling the birthers and those who believe the President is a secret Muslim, to shut the hell up, grow up and get a life. Boehner says, “It’s not my responsibility to tell the American people what to think.”
No one wants to be told what to think but people probably object more to being told what to do, as in, “don’t have an abortion even if you’re going to die” and “go get in that unemployment line, you lazy, undeserving person whose job I just cancelled”. Telling people what to do, Boehner has no problem with. He just doesn’t want to be a national guiding influence to correct misinformation. Boehner’s disclaimer of responsibility is cynical and disingenuous in the extreme. He acts like he is some first term congressman from rural Iowa. Please. The man wields a big gavel. He is third in line to the Presidency. He has not had any problem telling the American people or members of the House what he thinks about health care, “Hell, no you won’t!” and the stimulus, “Where are the jobs?” (But John, you said he created 200,000 jobs…but I digress.)
Boehner sounds like the late Freddie “Ees not my Yob” Prinze when he claims its just not his place to take a stand and quiet the clamor from the far right hand corner of the room.
These are not just misinformed citizens who question the President’s religion and birthplace. Seventeen members of Congress have a strange affliction that prevents them from seeing President Obama’s birth certificate and many of the same ‘representatives’ have questioned his religion. Boehner tries to play it both ways, claiming he will “take the President at his word” that he is a Christian (not required to be President) in his sly, eye-rolling, wink-wink, arrogant approval of the President. Okay, Johnnie-boy, I’ll take you “at your word” that your tears are real and I’ll take you “at your word” that you have not had an affair with a lobbyist recently and a Congressional staffer, formerly, as recently reported. Oh wait, I can’t take you at your word on that one, because you have yet to deny those claims. If you do deny them, I’ll “take you at your word”. See how demeaning the qualifying ‘at his word’ language is? It’s a way of saying, of course, if you don’t believe anything the President says, then his word means nothing to you, and we just reinforced the lie by repeating the rebuttal of the lie.
Despite the presence of the President’s birth certificate, Boehner says he believes the President is “a citizen.” Note Boehner’s lack of use of the “natural born” requirement of the Constitution. Henry Kissinger was a citizen but he couldn’t be President. By leaving out the “natural born” language, that frequent twitch of Boehner’s eye looks like a wink to the nut cases. Use that gavel, John! Use it on yourself, the seventeen members of Congress who are full fledged birthers, and use it to lead the country away from this slander. It is insulting to the Presidency, and the President, that our Speaker of the House, refuses to show the utmost decency and respect because it will cost his party votes. This tolerance of ignorance and hatred de-legitimizes the entire Republican majority in the House. So be it.
