Obama's bully pulpit forces Boehner to bail on debt talks

By Nicholas Wilbur

Here's a theory:

House Speaker John Boehner recognized what President Obama has been doing with the debt ceiling negotiations, and in recognizing this he was forced to recall what happened with the April budget negotiations, and in doing that he realized he's about to lose another "historic" battle over "historic" spending cuts if he doesn't do something.

Obama is utilizing the bully pulpit like never before, and it's working.

[C]onsider the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, which found that a plurality of Americans — for the first time — actually wants Congress to increase the debt ceiling. Also note the speed with which this turned around: in April, a tiny 16% minority was on board with doing the right thing. Three months later, that total has more than doubled and is now a plurality. (Steve Benen, Washington Monthly)

What's the solution? For Boehner, it's eliminating Obama from the debt ceiling equation by walking out of the negotiations and lobbying Congress to pass a plan of its own – with the hope that his caucus will be more willing to accept a deal if the evil hand of the Great Socialist isn't involved in the molding process.

I may be wrong.

I don't think I am.

In politics, perception is the name of the game, and Boehner hasn't scored a point for his team since November 2.

(photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

(Cross-posted at Muddy Politics.)