Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog is out with an explanation for why one of the better if less-believable plot twists in Netflix’s new House of Cards series would never be allowed to happen in real life. In short, unless Frank Underwood’s brilliance manages to defy the laws of politics, the House leadership always is and always will be determined by the majority of the majority.
Klein’s piece is all the more poignant because its corollary, that action in the House requires the support of the majority of the majority, explains why the possibility of a deal on the sequester is all the more remote. John Boehner has already violated the Hastert rule in avoiding the fiscal cliff once by allowing a bill to pass with Democratic votes and a few Republican additions. Doing so again, top Republicans such as Senator Ron Johnson have warned the Speaker publicly, would put his position as elected leader of their conference in danger.
Just as Democrats who formed a cross-party coalition to overthrow a speaker would risk their own position within their party, Bohener would put his own political future in danger by building an interparty coalition on sequestration.
Read the whole piece: Wonkblog