USA TODAY International Edition
Barack Obama
Barack Obama was “a good man but not a great president,” Boehner said.
When the two shared a round of golf in 2011 – in a foursome that included Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio Gov. John Kasich – Boehner proposed they work on a major budget deal. After closely held negotiations, Boehner said they reached an agreement that would have begun to bring the federal deficit under control. But he said Obama, under pressure from Democrats, demanded a last- minute change that nixed it.
In his memoir, “A Promised Land,” published last year, Obama didn’t portray a deal as settled, and he compared Boehner to the state legislators he had known in Springfield, “regular guys who didn’t stray from the party line or the lobbyists who kept them in power.” He depicted him as likable but ineffective and not in control of a rowdy Republican caucus.
Boehner called the failure to seal the sweeping budget accord the biggest regret of his political career.
“The deal was done, and he walked away from it,” he said. “Sad, sad, sad, sad.”