Midterms: It’s Obama vs. Boehner

last updated 8 January 2015

Democrats have a new foil, said Michael M. Phillips and Jonathan Weisman in The Wall Street Journal, and his name is John Boehner. With polls showing the Democratic majority in the House—and possibly the Senate—in jeopardy, President Obama and his allies in Congress are attempting to put a face on the GOP: the perpetually tanned visage of Boehner, the House minority leader. In a single speech in Ohio last week, the president mentioned Boehner eight times, warning voters that he and the GOP wanted to restore the failed economic policies of George W. Bush. The Democratic National Committee is pitching in, too, said Steve Benen in WashingtonMonthly.com, with a new campaign aimed at the largely unknown Boehner, who’d replace Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House should Republicans triumph in November. The Democrats’ goal is to define Boehner as “a corporate shill unsympathetic to the concerns of American workers.”

“Obama is barking up the wrong tree,” said Larry Kudlow in National Review Online. After “a couple trillion dollars” of spending, and with unemployment at 9.6 percent, 56 percent of voters disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy. In a generic poll of the congressional vote, Republicans lead Democrats 49 percent to 40 percent. Between now and November, there’s no way for Obama to turn those numbers around, especially if the GOP stays on message—“freeze spending, keep tax rates down.” By personalizing his differences with Boehner, Obama only diminishes himself, said Ed Rollins in CNN.com. “We former presidential advisors always tell a president to be presidential. This one is being congressional.” If the “overexposed” Obama isn’t careful, his campaigning will end with Boehner, not Obama, in the role of “Big Dog.”

After November, actually, we may have no lead dog at all, said Michael Gerson in The Washington Post. Democrats will be in retreat, and on the Republican side, “ideology will be ascendant.” House leaders won’t be able to exert much control over the 40 or 50 new, “ideologically excitable” members who will get to Washington with help from the Tea Party. Beholden to their most ideological members, Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell will have little room to cut deals with the White House. Will a divided government be able to tackle any pressing issues, from the budget deficit to taxes to the economy? “The answer: probably not.”