Obama Uses Boehner Exit To Threaten Federal Shutdown This Fall

President Barack Obama is always on-point, and today he used House Speaker John Boehner’s resignation announcement to blame the GOP for his own prior decisions to shut down federal agencies instead of compromising with the GOP.

First, the sugar. “You know, John is a good man. He is a patriot, he cares deeply about the House — an institution where he has served for a long time. He cares about his constituents, and he cares about America,” Obama said.

Then came the passive-aggressive criticisms, which started softly by portraying Boehner as a reasonable man among supposed extremists.

We have obviously had a lot of disagreements, and politically we are at different ends of the spectrum, but I will tell you he has always conducted himself with courtesy and civility with me. He has kept his word when he made a commitment. He is somebody who has been gracious, and maybe most importantly, he’s somebody who understands, in government and governance, you don’t get 100 percent of what you want, but you have to work with people who you disagree with, sometimes strongly, in order to do the people’s business.

Next came the threats, even as he was standing in the Rose Garden with China’s President Xi Jinping.

My hope is there’s a recognition on the the part of the next Speaker… we can have significant differences on issues, but that doesn’t mean you shut down the government, [that] you risk the full faith and credit of the United States, you don’t invite financial crises… [but] you do the basic work of governance that ensures our military is operating, that our national parks are open, and that our kids are learning… [because] that’s what government is.”

In 2014, for example, he used the same shutdown strategy to block any GOP curbs on his plan to amnesty five million illegal migrants. This year, he’s using the tactic to preserve $500 million in annual funding for Planned Parenthood and to deter any GOP pushback on his plans to expand his amnesty and to increase incoming migration.

Lastly, the scheduled joke to sweeten the TV coverage of his hard-edged, no-compromise budget strategy.

“Sometimes, you take half a loaf, sometimes you take a quarter loaf, that’s something I have learned,” said Obama, who has gorged on no-compromise, full-speed-ahead progressive politics for the last 34 years, and has successfully expanded government while increasing the national debt by $7 trillion, importing millions of foreign workers, keeping Americans’ salaries flat and barely increasing Americans’ employment over their 2007 employment numbers.

Follow Neil Munro on Twitter, @NeilMunroDC