John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives, wants us to know that he’s angry. He insists, and apparently his House conference and right-wing media such as Fox News believe, that the President and the Senate owe it to him and his Republican colleagues to enter into negotiations over changing the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. “Obamacare.” (Obamacare was originally coined with the intention of being pejorative.) Mr. Boehner and his colleagues in fact have suffered a break with reality. Since the Republicans took control of the house in January of 2011 they have voted to repeal, defund, or otherwise gut the ACA more than 40 times. But the Senate remains in Democratic hands, as does the presidency. As of October 1, that fact is still true. There is no rational reason for the President or Democratic senators to change a position they’ve held for more than three years at this particular moment, simply because Mr. Boehner insists on following a course that damages the government and those who rely on it every day, which is basically everyone within our borders. Mr. Boehner, get over it.