Getting Out of the Corner

JOHN BOEHNER AND the tea party republicans in congress, though quite obviously trapped in a corner like a rabid rat, insist that there will be no raising of the debt ceiling, a mere formality but necessary to pay for laws congress has already passed, unless Oama makes budgetary concessions. He (Boehner) said "budgetary" concessions and negotiations, just yesterday, and he didn't say concessions and negotiations concerning "Obamacare". This slight change of screeching might be a glimmer of hope, an indication that Boehner and the tea party are looking for a dignified way out of their corner. This is Obama's big chance, if he wants to take advantage of it. He can and should say to the tea party; fine! Great! Yes! What we need is to solve the underlying problem, (Boehner's words) to get spending under control, we need to negotiate and compromise on budget cuts, before we raise the debt ceiling, thus ensuring that in a better future, there will never again be any need for a debt ceiling, or for ever raising it. So...... How about defunding an aircraft carrier or two, or maybe a trident submarine or two, or how about defunding a few thousand atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, intercontinental ballistic missiles, or maybe let's defund our immense stockpile of chemical weapons, maybe throw 'em on the big bonfire of chemical weaponry destruction going on in Syria about now. Five'll get you ten that Boehner's tea party, always gung ho about cutting federal spending, will balk, bitch, and pitch a fit at the very thought of reducing our bloated, outrageously high military spending. Heaven forbid that corporate profits and weapons should ever be sacrificed to pay for health care for people in poverty. Super duper national defense is a necessity; welfare programs for freeloaders, aka the poor, are not. Force the republicans to choose weapons over health care, and see how the American respond is what the president could and should do. There's only one problem to this fantasy; Obama will never do it, because Obama is no more or less a corporate puppet than his conservative adversaries. All American presidents are corporate puppets, because all of them purchase the presidency using corporate money, money with strings attached. When is the last time an American president pointed out that the American military is at least twice as large as it needs to be to defend America? Good luck looking. You won't hear Obama doing it. He'll have his own way of letting the tea party out of the corner.