Washington Braces for More Bitter Partisanship

Speaker John Boehner’s “sudden announcement on Friday that he will step down from the speakership and leave the House on Oct. 30 has thrown Washington into deep uncertainty. His resignation is likely to herald an even more combative stretch in the nation’s capital, emboldening conservatives to defy Mr. Obama on looming decisions regarding spending, debt and taxes,” the New York Times reports.

“Some in Congress and the White House hold out hope that Mr. Boehner’s departure and the election of a new speaker will break the fever among conservatives, who have been plotting his downfall for over a year, and grant his replacement a grace period. Mr. Obama promised Friday to ‘reach out immediately’ to the next speaker to begin working on the nation’s problems.”

“But more prevalent is a sense of dread that an already bitter and divisive political atmosphere is about to get even worse.”