The third-ranking Republican in the House agrees with Minority Leader John Boehner that President Obama’s economic team should resign. “I join Republican Leader John Boehner in calling for the resignations of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Director of the White House National Economic Council Larry Summers,” reads a statement from Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence.
This isn’t surprising in and of itself. It’s an all-win, headline-grabbing move for the Republicans, particularly knowing, as they did, that the White House would tell them to buzz off. It’s age-old politics for the opposition party — Republican or Democrat — to call for executive branch resignations, and on that level, this is nothing new.
But there is something unusually bold about this move. With the shoe on the other foot, it’s hard to imagine Democrats matching Republicans for timing (two months before the midterms), and swiftness, particularly given that the GOP just spent the last several weeks on the Hill tying the Democrats’ hands as they pushed for a bit more stimulus.
Expect to see Republican candidates join the call, and put their Democratic counterparts on the spot, forcing them to choose between endorsing unpopular figures like Geithner and Summers, and abandoning the leader of their party.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
Facebook Conversations
Questions about commenting with non-Facebook accounts like Yahoo, or other concerns? Click here to read the TPM Commenting FAQ.