Inside D.C.

The loss of Speaker Boehner

All things must change, and so it is for House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH).  For me, Boehner’s decision to resign his speakership and House seat at the end of October is less a surprise than it is disappointment in a sitting House majority so increasingly dedicated to a “my-way-or-the-highway” political mindset that it may doom itself to failure.

I’ve had the privilege of knowing John Boehner since 1991 when he was a fresh-faced freshman elected from Ohio’s 8^th District, a mostly rural chunk of the Buckeye State that guaranteed him a slot on the House Agriculture Committee. When I was a reporter and as a lobbyist, it was refreshing to hear Boehner rail against commodity support programs during every Farm Bill debate.  I’ve spoken more than once at Boehner’s annual ag issues conference in his district, I’ve smoked a lot of cigarettes with the “B Man,” and I’ve been the butt of more than one Boehner jibe.

Boehner is a politician who’s always been more about the institution of Congress than he’s been about loyalty to or leadership of the Republican Party, though there are few House GOP leadership posts to which he hasn’t been elected.  He wasn’t worried about being reelected Speaker — “I’d have survived that” — rather he strongly believes that to put his colleagues and the institution through more of the rank political gamesmanship and “prolonged leadership turmoil” of the last 60 days, i.e., fending off Tea Party attacks, “would do irreparable damage to the institution.”

He’s one of the last what-you-see-is-what-you-get politicians, and as he said in his resignation press conference, “if you ask me a question, you may not like the answer, but you’ll get an honest answer.” Boehner always said he never planned to be Speaker for the rest of his political career.  When he was first elected in 2010, his unspoken plan was to serve two terms.  The primary election upset of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R, VA) in 2014, forced Boehner to recalculate.

Boehner is a devotee of the old adage “politics is the art of the possible,” translating to his desire to do the greatest good for the greatest number, and if that means sitting down those in his own party who want to go a step too far, however painful, he’s done it.  If it means working with Democrats, so be it.  If it means sitting down with a President who is his political and personal opposite, Boehner has been there.

I confess I’m surprised at the timing of Boehner’s announcement, figuring this announcement might come at the end of this Congress.  But he confessed he planned to announce his resignation on November 17 – his birthday – and his original plan was to exit at the end of the year.  Before he went to bed on September 24, he prayed on his decision, called his wife Debbie, and decided to sleep on it.  When he woke up September 25, he knew “today’s the day.”

Reporters asked him how his resignation will change the dysfunction within the House Republican majority.  As to a coalescing of the House GOP under a new Speaker, Boehner’s response was, “Hope springs eternal.”  Boehner didn’t take cheap shots at his critics or Democrats, rather he implied removing himself as the lightning rod for GOP conservative members might help solidify the party.  The loud and intransigent part of the GOP, those who believe the general population is secretly far right, they just don’t know it yet, is currently doing a collective happy dance because Boehner is leaving.  They should be thinking, as both Boehner and Pope Francis admonished, how do we do the greatest good for the greatest number?

Good Catholic that he is, nevertheless Boehner told reporters his decision had little to do with this week’s visit to Washington, DC, by Pope Francis, the culmination of a Boehner long-time desire.  He told the media repeatedly, that “when you do the right things for the right reasons, the right things happen.”  He believes his decision is the right thing.

Boehner must feel like a fat man just got off his back.  The House will be a poorer place without him.  I will miss him.