Boehner told his caucus that the government should cut spending by more than whatever amount they add to the debt ceiling. In other words, Speaker Boehner committed himself to holding the debt ceiling hostage despite the president's adamant refusal to negotiate over the issue.
The president will have his inaugural speech and his State of the Union speech to make his case for never negotiating on the debt ceiling again. He'll have all of Wall Street on his side. He'll have every reputable economist on his side. He'll have Bill Clinton on his side. He'll have a unified Democratic Party on his side. And he already has the good will of the people.
Boehner is incapable of thinking more than one step ahead. He ought to ask himself how he plans on winning this showdown with the rest of the universe. He could, for example, pass a bill that raises the debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion and cuts spending by more than that. And he could hand that to the Senate and dare them not to pass it. Except, he could never get his caucus to vote for the cuts to Medicare that such a bill would require. But, let's say he could pass it. He'd be threatening everyone's Medicare on one side and the global economy and the nation's credit rating on the other. And he'd be doing it in the context of a simultaneous hostage situation on the sequester that threatens every powerful interest group in the country, including the Pentagon. And, all this, without the slightest whiff of a mandate from the people.
Boehner was barely reelected as Speaker. He has no margin for error. If ever anyone was waddling into the threshing blades, it's John Boehner.