If the health care law really is a starter home, then what President Obama has been doing is effectively letting the Republicans rip out the house’s copper plumbing to be sold as scrap for pennies on the dollar.

At the end of the health care debate, when Obama was desperate to get the final bill passed in the House, he agreed to make a deal with Bart Stupak (D-MI) on the issue of abortion, by offering an executive order that restricted the availability of insurance coverage for reproductive health. The right to abortion for many in need was traded away as a bargaining chip to get that final bill passed.

Last week, as part of the negotiations to get a budget for the rest of fiscal year 2011, President Obama again decided to use abortion rights as a bargaining chip to secure a final deal

While I strongly disagree on a policy level with almost everything John Boehner is trying to do, I’m glad that he has at least reminded us that the House of Representatives isn’t the meaningless sick boy of the federal government.

Count among those disappointed in the budget deal that was forged oh-so-dramatically at the very last hour before government shutdown Michele Bachmann, chair of the House teabaggers.