John Fund writes on NRO: It's one of the ironies of Washington that while President Obama refuses to negotiate on entitlements and Majority Leader Harry Reid presides over a Senate that irresponsibly hasn't passed a budget in three years, it's House Speaker John Boehner who is being talked about as someone who has done a poor job of managing the country’s fiscal situation.

On Friday, reporters asked Boehner if he was worried that the retreat could cost him his speakership when the new House convenes on January 3.  “While we may have not been able to get the votes last night . . . they weren’t taking that out on me,” Boehner said.

Well, some are. Republican dissidents, who believe Boehner has been too accommodating to liberals and too quick to punish conservative rebels, point out that a speaker must be elected with 218 votes, an absolute majority of all House members, including Republicans. Ballots continue to be cast until someone gains a majority.