The Dilemma for Republicans.  Now that the election dust has settled, the big question for the markets, the business owners, and most everyone else who earns a paycheck is: Where do we go from here?  We had a divided government going into this cycle and there is nothing that has occurred that would lead one to believe that the division will be mitigated; in fact, it will likely worsen.  This President clearly feels empowered and mandated and shows every sign of pursuing full-bore his agenda; even to the point of heretofore never-seen explorations of executive privilege and power.  Perhaps the most important character to watch as this drama unfolds is not the President, but rather the majority leader in the House.  Mr. Boehner has a difficult job under the best of circumstances.  His rightwing group remains adamant in principle and unsatisfied with the performance of nominee Romney.  His moderate group has seen their credibility significantly diminished with the Romney loss.  His liberal group – well, he has no liberal group to speak of.  Mr. Boehner can continue to operate as he has over the past two years; seeking to derail any Administration or Senate action that he finds ideally objectionable through the use of majority levers or he can pursue a new tact of strategic surrender.   This new tact has been floated by a journalist or two and I find it to be quite interesting, if not well advised.  The thinking goes that the American voters clearly did not get the message that Democratic rule would ruin the country…economically, morally, and internationally.  It would continue that in order to conclusively drive this point home, House Republicans should basically roll over and let the Democrats have their way.  Certainly Ms. Pelosi, based on her recent comments, would gladly embrace this philosophy.  By doing do, Boehner and the Republicans lay the groundwork of clear accountability for the terrible consequences they see flowing from these Democratic policies.  By removing any semblance of Republican opposition, they will further clearly attach the practical results of the next two and four years to the Democrats.  It should also be carefully considered whether or not ceded ground in the name of accountability can be easily recovered in the name of consequence; that might be giving the American voter too much credit.  The other path would be to continue as he has over the last two years, operating within the limited bounds presented to a Republican House majority co-existing with a Democratic Senate and President; a formula that argues for a reactive rather than a proactive approach.  The problem with this approach, if doing your job as you were elected to do it is a problem, is that it leaves open the opportunity for the Democrats to claim obstructionism as the culprit if their agenda does not bear useful fruit. 

This situation is why I previously set forth that the best election results we could expect would be a single-party victory for Congress and the White House.  With that result, we would have eventually had a basis for clear accountability from a policy standpoint.  I fear what we will now have is a  continuation of the last two years; a muddled puddle of blame-shifting between the House, the Senate, and the President with each blaming the other for all the bad things that might happen and each falling over the other to take credit for the good things that might happen.  And…it will be left to the American voter to decide where the true blame or credit lies.  Good luck with that.