Jennifer Steinhauer has a good article up at the New York Times. It’s really a kind of landscape of Republican schizophrenia. There are the people who are crazy, the people who pretend to be crazy, and the people who cynically use the crazy for their own political purposes. This makes it hard to lead the GOP, especially if you want to pivot to a more conciliatory strategy. Maybe a third of the Republican caucus actually has internalized their own ridiculous talking points, and another third will look like the rankest hypocrites if they flip-flop on them now. Finally, there’s the leadership, which wants to protect as many seats as possible and can read the polling data that says that American people are totally fed-up with their obstruction.
Keep in mind that, for the leadership, obstruction has been more about tactics than principle. And when the political landscape changes, the leadership would like to be able to change tactics. They do not want to block a jobs bill. They want to whittle it down considerably, but they want something to pass. There are a lot of rank-and-file Republicans sitting in blueish seats who are getting an earful from their constituents. They don’t want to filibuster a bill or simply fail to take it up in the House.
Yet, opposing the president when it is possible to do so has become an article of faith. Why pass anything when you have the technical power to kill it? Why help the president at all? Why not continue to highlight the weakness of the executive branch and keep the left fighting among themselves?
The answer is simple. People will be really angry with the Republicans if they do that, and they will punish them at the polls. The truth is, the president and the economy have been weakened enough. Further weakening will backfire and the GOP leadership understands this. The problem is they’ve created some really bad habits,, and they’ve poisoned the well so much that it’s hard to flip a switch and work with the president in a constructive way.
Plus, do not forget that John Boehner has demonstrated repeatedly that he is not very good at his job, and it’s not clear he can deliver even when his intention is to do so.