Boehner welcomed the platform that the White House gave him by firing back: “For someone who asked to be held to a higher standard, President Obama spends an awful lot of time making excuses and whining about others.”
The true test of who will win the next House majority begins late this week, as Congress heads home for its summer recess.
Late last week, Boehner held a special House Republican conference meeting to outline plans for the August recess. At the heart of the party's efforts is its “America Speaking Out” project, an ambitious part-multimedia, part-hands-on effort to engage in a two-way conversation with constituents.
Members received an August work-period packet that laid out a GOP message, a contrast with Democrats, and GOP solutions on five key issues: jobs, government spending, government reform, national security and health care.
Democrats’ messaging right now is that Republicans are the “party of no.” But this may just be the year that “no" is enough.
The main source of Main Street’s frustration is that few Americans think government is working. The political class (elected officials, media and staff inside the Washington beltway) often does not hear that discontent until long after the tide has already formed.
If Republicans win, however, they better move past “no” pretty darned fast.
Boehner and Pelosi are fundraising rock-stars for their parties, each netting more than $30 million for candidate campaigns – and both have had rocky moments in their relationship with the president.
Purdue University political science professor Bert Rockman speculates that if House Republicans win a majority in the fall, the Boehner-Obama relationship will be all business: “Unlike Bill Clinton, Obama is not a hail-fellow-well-met kind of person. Clinton would make you believe he cared about you. Obama doesn’t pretend.”
That’s not oh-so-different from his relationship with Pelosi who, unlike Senate counterpart Harry Reid, completed her agenda.