Boehner's Answer to Obama
Jules Witcover

President Obama certainly didn't have to wait long for House Speaker John Boehner's answer to his job-creation demand to "pass this bill -- right away." It was, as they say in Brooklyn, "Fuhgeddaboudit."

In his address to the Economic Club of Washington, the speaker observed that "if we want to create a better environment for job creation, politicians of all stripes can leave the 'my way or the highway' philosophy behind." But again he ruled out any new taxes Obama wants to go along with the spending cuts Boehner seeks to achieve greater deficit reduction.

In other words, the speaker accepted the president's challenge finally to go to the mat on the central philosophical issue facing the country -- whether the federal government should play a role in economic policy through regulation of the market, or stand aside and let the private sector hold sway.

Boehner said the so-called super committee on debt reduction directed by Congress to find $1.5 trillion on deficit reduction should tackle tax reform, but tax increases "are not a viable option" for it. He thus slammed the door again on Obama's call for ending the Bush tax cuts for the nation's wealthiest, a centerpiece of the president's plan, repeatedly rejected by the congressional Republicans.

While saying Obama's comprehensive approach offers "opportunities for common ground," Boehner quickly called it "a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in America" by the private sector. He listed excessive regulation, a destructive tax code and "the spending binge in Washington" as "a triple threat" to economic recovery.

But the speaker also offered a telltale comment on why unemployment remains stuck at around nine percent. "Job creators in America," he said, "are essentially on strike." Without mentioning that many are sitting on huge profits from higher productivity by fewer workers, Boehner said their "uncertainty is turning to fear that this toxic environment for job creation is a permanent state."

So the private sector's answer is to go on strike? The speaker added that "employers will hire if they have the right incentives, but the incentives have to outweigh the costs." Business is not going to hire someone for a federal tax credit, he said, that is less than long-term costs mandated by "a government that is always micromanaging, meddling and manipulating."

Boehner boasted that the American economy "has always been built on opportunity -- on entrepreneurs, innovators and risk-takers willing to take a chance -- because they're confident if they work hard, they can succeed." But by going "on strike" and hoarding their fat profits, the claim of being risk-takers sounds a bit hollow.

The speaker conceded that "there are reasonable regulations that protect our children and help keep our environment clean," but there also are "excessive regulations that unnecessarily increase costs for consumers and small businesses" that should be targeted by the congressional super committee. It has "only one option, spending cuts and entitlement reform," he said.

Boehner in his sermon to the choir called on Obama to tell his cabinet members: "Until further notice, I don't want anything that gets in the way of private-sector job creation." They "are not doing their jobs if they aren't constantly focused on removing impediments to job growth," he said, and "if they're not focused on that, they should be fired."

It's a message the speaker might well deliver to his House Republicans who have spent much of their time over the last three years focused on blocking most of Obama's major initiatives, with the stated objective of making him a one-term president.

Earlier, Boehner seemed to be one of the more reasonable opposition leaders to find common ground, particularly in his "grand bargain" talks with Obama finally broken off. In this latest speech, he said he was "not opposed to responsible spending to repair and improve infrastructure," as the president has proposed, but said "let's link the next highway bill to an expansion of American-made energy production."

Such comments could be a light at the end of the tunnel of Republican obstructionism. But that would be more of a hope than an expectation of the sort Obama has been too optimistic about in the past.