Boehner Takes The Bait

When John Boehner announced his plan to sue President Obama for exceeding executive authority, I was disappointed because I really wanted to see the House impeach Obama.  There are certainly a lot of Baggers out there who want to go that route, and I would have loved to see the do-nothing House impeach the President for trying to do something when congressional Republicans refuse to act legislatively on anything.

Of course, the act of impeaching Obama would have called even more attention to the fact that the Republicans in the House are refusing to do their jobs, and one would think this would be the last thing the GOP would want. I mean, if an employee of a business comes into work and decides he wasn't actually going to do any work that day, the last thing this employee would want to do is call attention to that fact, right?

Perhaps that is why Boehner decided to appease the radicalized elements within his party by merely suing Obama -- actually, so far it is only the threat of a suit.  And how did the President respond to this threat? Well, instead of backing down, Obama announced even more executive action -- this time on immigration, which is the absolute last thing Boehner wants Obama to act on.

Needless to say, I can't get enough of this, and neither can the White House (from First Read):

Of course, yesterday’s back-and-forth over immigration comes just a week after Boehner announced that the House would vote later this month to authorize a lawsuit against President Obama’s executive actions. And here is something that shouldn’t be ignored: The White House LOVES the lawsuit. For one thing, it gives meaning to the White House’s various executive actions. Earlier this year during the State of the Union, many of us proclaimed them simply playing “small ball.” But given this lawsuit, Republicans certainly don’t see them being small. In addition, the lawsuit only emphasizes the contrast that one branch of government is doing SOMETHING while the other branch is doing NOTHING. Bottom line: The White House sees a political opportunity here -- an opportunity that Republicans might not have seen coming.

The First Read piece ends with this question: "Would it surprise many if House Republicans quietly decide before the August recess that this lawsuit gambit is actually too politically risky for them in an election year?"  My answer to that question is -- hell yes it would surprise me.

Don't forget -- we're dealing with Baggers here. They are basically running the show in the House right now, and these are the very same nutjobs who shut down our government over Obamacare and then threatened to bring down the US economy by not allowing an increase in the debt ceiling.  It was obvious to pretty much everyone back then that such actions would hurt the Republican brand, but the Baggers did it anyway.

And why did they do it?  They did it because their intense hatred for our first Black president overwhelms all other considerations, and Obama knows that this over-the-top hostility toward him is the Achilles' heel of the GOP.  That's why he is raising the pot instead of folding his hand -- I can't imagine anything that would infuriate a Bagger more than Obama taking executive action on immigration.

So I fully expect that Boehner will follow through on his threat to sue Obama.  He really has no other choice now that he has announced this plan, because there is no way in hell that the tea people will let him back down.