Political Chess: Well Played, Mr. Boehner! [Reader Post]

If you were paying attention, we just observed some very cool political chess this past week.  President Obama mentions John Boehner’s name about 8 times during a speech.  Most of America does not know who Boehner is (he is the leader of the minority party—the Republicans—in the House).   Readers of Flopping Aces probably know this, but most of America has no idea.  Probably a third of our voting population does not even know which party is in power in the House and the Senate.

Anyway, so Obama gets Boehner’s name out there.  He knows that these elections are going to be nationalized, so he needs a face to put on the Republican party, so that he can demonize that face (ala, Saul Alinksy).

Then, almost simultaneously, Boehner is pressed on television about tax cuts for the rich (remember, the news media, for the most part, is an arm of the Democratic party).  The principled position is for Boehner to say, “We should not let the Bush tax cuts expire for rich or poor; they should remain in place for all Americans, and that is what we as Republicans will hold out for.”  But, he did not say that exactly, because this was all a set up to make Boehner known as the head the Republican party, and then to get a quote from him that could be played and replayed in order to make it look as if the thrust of the Republican party is to get tax cuts for the rich.

Instead, to the surprise of many people, Boehner immediately capitulated and said, “We will take whatever tax cuts we can get for the American people, rich or poor.  If we can only get some tax cuts, then that is what we will do.” (Not an exact quote).  Now, if you are a strong conservative, when you saw this, you probably yelled at the TV and though that Boehner was selling out the principles of conservatism.  Wrong.  This whole thing was a trap, and Boehner deftly avoided stepping into it.

Well played, Mr. Boehner!