The Crazy Scheme to Save America

There is a rumor that John Boehner would kind of like to get this debt ceiling debacle over with. It's making him look bad, it risks making him and every other Republican look awful, and he himself is much more of a business type than a Tea Party type, making him not particularly inclined to, you know, destroy the economy. But, the rumors continue, he cannot just announce his support for something like the McConnell plan, which would allow Obama to implement a series of clean debt ceiling increases while simultaneously letting Congress impotently voice its disapproval, and try to whip up a coalition in support of that plan between all the Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Why? Because he would lose his gavel, in an instant. The House Republicans would probably elect Eric Cantor Speaker before the McConnell plan even came up for a vote, and a few days thereafter at the very latest. And John Boehner likes being Speaker of the House; indeed, it is really the only thing he aspires to.

So here's the crazy scheme: all of the people who would vote in favor of the McConnell plan, were Boehner to throw his support behind it, form a caucus to keep electing John Boehner Speaker of the House through the end of this Congress. That way, we get to pass the plan and Boehner gets to keep his gavel. Everyone's happy, right? Well, not the Tea Party types, but they're never happy. And sure, a lot of the Republicans who went along with this scheme would lose their jobs, but if we hit default and the economy gets destroyed I think they'll be in pretty grave danger anyway. This way they get to be the people who bravely sacrificed their political careers to protect the nation's economy, and I'm sure there would be plenty of cushy corporate lobbying gigs waiting for them down the road. As for the Democrats, sure it wouldn't be a lot of fun voting for Boehner as Speaker, but it's a lot better than the alternatives, and they obviously wouldn't be agreeing to support him on anything except the debt ceiling and keeping the gavel in his hands.

Now sure, this is the kind of thing that will never happen, at least not since approximately the 1880s, but I think it would work pretty well, and it would certainly be fun.