WATCH: Republicans mock Obama for negotiating with Putin but not them

YouTube

Watch On

Thanks to a last-minute diplomatic deus ex machina facilitated by Russia, the U.S. may not bomb Syria after all.

Given how overwhelmingly Americans are against military intervention — and how unpredictable a military campaign would be — most are hailing that as good news.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), however, says the president's willingness to negotiate with Russia on such a delicate foreign policy issue exposes a little hypocrisy. A video his office released Thursday juxtaposes footage of the president and his spokesmen insisting Obama will not negotiate on the debt ceiling alongside clips of administration officials praising negotiations with Russia over Syria's chemical weapons.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Why is the Obama administration willing to negotiate with Putin on Syria but not with Congress to address Washington's spending problem?" the video asks.

Technically, Obama has said he will negotiate on spending — just not as part of the debt ceiling debate Congress will soon take up. Washington has until mid-October to raise the debt ceiling or risk a potentially calamitous default on its financial obligations.