Speculation that Obama erred in his direct attack last week on Republican House minority leader John Boehner pivots on the notion that the president has legitimized the Republican most likely to take Pelosi’s gavel and elevated him into a spotlight from which he can make a case for Republican reform. Some Pundits believe this was a mistake, and diminished the presidency.
I’m not sure there is much left to diminish, but for all practical purposes Obama has elevated the could-be future Speaker of The House by invoking his name, but was it really an error in judgment? There are very few people who still believe the House will not flip–it is mostly a matter of how many seats. But the people who will make this shift possible are not entirely enamored of Boehner who is a career politician and whom many suspect will sell them out to make deals if given the opportunity. If the latter is accurate, given the odds that the new wave of Republicans will be less inclined to make deals, Boehner is the best hope Obama has, given a bad situation, of having any leverage whatsoever with that caucus.
So while Obama is not nor ever has been the smartest guy in the room, he is surrounded by devious minds forged in the cauldron of Chicago politics. If you have to lose, lose to your advantage. And if elevating Boehner gives him the leg up he needs to secure the job of Speaker, Obama won’t have to worry about a rebellion that elevates someone less inclined to the business of DC deal making which he will need if he thinks he’s going to get anything else through the legislature between now and January 2013.
